MULTI-COLOR, BROADBAND QUANTUM WELL INFRARED PHOTODETECTORS FOR MID-, LONG-, AND VERY LONG-WAVELENGTH INFRARED APPLICATIONS

Abstract

Quantum well infrared photodetectors (QWIPs) have been widely investigated for the 3–5 μm mid-wavelength infrared (MWIR) and 8–12 μm long-wavelength infrared (LWIR) atmospheric spectral windows as well as very long wavelength infrared (VLWIR: λc > 14 μm) imaging array applications in the past decade. The mature III-V compound semiconductor growth technology and the design flexibility of device structures have led to the rapid development of various QWIP structures for infrared focal plane arrays (FPAs) applications. In addition to the single-color QWIP with narrow bandwidth, multi-color or broadband QWIPs required for advanced IR sensing and imaging applications have also emerged in recent years. Using band gap engineering approach, the multi-color (2, 3, and 4-color) QWIPs with multi-stack quantum wells and voltage-tunable asymmetrical coupled quantum well structures for detection in the MWIR, LWIR, and VLWIR bands have been demonstrated recently. The triple-coupled (TC-) QWIP employs the quantum confined Stark effect to tune the peak detection wavelength by the applied bias voltage, A typical single-color QWIP exhibits a rather narrow spectral bandwidth of 1 to 2 μm. For certain applications, such as spectroscopy, sensing of a broader range of infrared radiation is highly desirable. Using the stacked quantum wells with different well width and depth, the digital-graded superlattice barrier (DGSLB) or the linear-graded barrier (LGB) structures, broadband (BB-) QWIPs covering the 8–14 μm atmospheric spectral window have been reported recently. In this chapter, the basic operation principles of a QWIP, and the design, fabrication, and characterization of multi-color and broadband QWIPs based on the GaAs/AlGaAs and InGaAs/AlGaAs material systems for the MW/LW/VLWIR applications are depicted.