Design verification, spectroscopy, adaptative testbed. Introduction quantum well infrared photodetectors qwip provide nowadays a well established technology to realize infrared focal plane arrays in the 812m spectral range. Lundqvist, nearunity quantum efficiency of algaasgaas quantum well infrared detectors using a waveguide with a doubly periodic grating coupler, appl. Pdf responsivity and thermionic current in asymmetric.
In this paper we discuss the optimization of the detector design, material growth and. Following more than a decade of development, the qwips will fly aboard the landsat data continuity mission ldcm as part of the thermal infrared sensor tirs. Taking advantage of mature gaas growth technology, large and uniform arrays could be realized, leading to lowcost, monolithically integrated imaging devices. We report work on several quantum structure based infrared detectors. Such a structure creates the conducting channel of a hemt and has interesting properties.
Recently, there is an emerging infrared technology based on quantum well intersubband transition in iiiv compound semiconductors. The idea of utilizing a quantum well for infrared detection was first presented by esaki and sakaka in 1977 and can be explained by using the basic principles of quantum mechanics. Rogalski institute of applied physics, military university of technology, 2 kaliskiego str. We report on the fabrication and characterization of a new type of mid infrared photodetector. Pdf modeling the dark current in quantum well infrared photodetectors has been a topic of much recent research, but the implications of many of the. The quantum well infrared detectors discussed here all generate a photocurrent when exposed to radiation i. Osa detectivity enhancement in quantum well infrared. The comparative studies of the thermal detectors with hgcdte photodiodes, doped silicon detectors and quantum well infrared photo detectors are carried out. The strongest resonance of the pcs is designed to coincide with the absorption peak frequency at 7. This allows one to tune the spectral response of the photodetector for a given application.
Ultimate performance of quantum well infrared photo detectors. Quantum well infrared photodetector qwip which uses the intersubband transitions of carriers has also been developed for the mid and long infrared photon detection. Related content tunable longwavelength broad band asymmetric quantum well infrared photodetector m hostut, d kartal, y ergun et al. Nowadays, the detection in the infrared band ir has shown great importance in several areas such as skin ill. The physics of quantum well infrared detectors springerlink. Analyze figure of merits of ir detectors and focal plane arrays. Bandara, quantum well infrared photodetector qwip focal plane arrays, in. Faska sanders, a lockheed martin company nashua, nh. Hgcdte is the most studied semiconductor material for ir detectors and it is the standard against which all of other ir photon detectors are matched against.
Quantum well infrared photodetector innovation pathway. Specifically, we are developing the detectors for the thermal infrared sensor tirs used in the landsat data. The ssoi system allows strainbalancing between the qwip heterostructure with an average composition of si0. Midwavelength infrared detection with in x ga 1x as. So far, the king of infrared detectors has been the hgcdte intrinsic photodetector mct. The operational validation of this testbed is achieved with a studied quantum well infrared photodetectors qwip, exhibiting high compliance with the expected theoretical results. A new twocolor infrared photodetector design using ingaas. Quantum well infrared detector university of rochester. By doping either the well itself or preferably, the barrier of a quantum well with donor impurities, a twodimensional electron gas 2deg may be formed. Ultimate performance of quantum well infrared photo. Quantum well infrared photodetectors operating in the. Intrinsic infrared detectors in the longwavelength range 620,urn are. The quantum well infrared photodetector qwip is a semiconductor infrared photon detector relying on intersubband absorption within either the conduction band ntype or the valence band ptype. Army research laboratory adelphi, md 20783 abstract we have grown, fabricated, and tested a new twocolor quantum well infrared.
A normalincident quantum well infrared photodetector. Electronbeaminduced current ebic measurements confirm the location of the pbse sqw near the middle of the intrinsic cdte layer. Antenna structures for optical coupling in quantumwell. Addressed to both students as a learning text and scientistsengineers as a reference, this book discusses the physics and applications of quantumwell infrared photodetectors qwips. A multiple quantum well superlattice radiation detector is compositionally graded to establish an internal electric field within the superlattice that allows the device to operate with a reduced or zero externally applied bias voltage. Three fundamental classes of quantum well infrared detectors qwids are examined. Farinfrared singlephoton detectors fabricated in double. Inasgasb quantum well structures for infrared detector. Pdf the paper compares the achievements of quantum well infrared photodetector qwip technology with those of competitive technologies. Intermixing effect in quantum well infrared detector proceedings of. The first dualband infrared detector array operating in the longwave longwave regime was developed and characterized. Quantum levels in wells thermal stability uniformity 3, 4, 6 substrates.
A quantum well infrared photodetector qwip is an infrared photodetector, which uses electronic intersubband transitions in quantum wells to absorb photons. Intrinsic infrared detectors in the midwavelength infrared. Pdf quantum well photoconductors in infrared detector technology. The physics of quantum well infrared photodetectors. Highpolarizationdiscriminating infrared detection using a. Infrared photodetector, quantum wells, electronic transport. The quantum well infrared photoconductor qwip is a device concept that allows general purpose electronic materials systems e.
Quantum well infrared photodetectors an overview sciencedirect. Painter, and sanjay krishna abstractwe present the design, fabrication, and characteriza. Quantum well infrared photodetectors are also based on quantum wells and are used for infrared imaging. We have extended our investigation of corrugated quantum well infrared photodetector focal plane arrays fpas into the far infrared regime. The majority of optical detectors can be classified in two broad categories. Pdf quantum well photoconductors in infrared detector. Each of these ntype, well doped structures has its merits and drawbacks. In order to be used for infrared detection, the parameters of the quantum wells in the quantum well infrared photodetector are adjusted so that the energy difference between its first and second quantized states match the incoming. The second class of ir detectors is composed of thermal detectors. We characterize the performance of a quantum well infrared photodetector qwip, which is fabricated as a photonic crystal slab pcs resonator. Infrared detectors operating in the midir spectral range 3lm20lm are of crucial importance for a variety of applications, namely, spectroscopy, space observation, trace gas sensing, and imaging.
Us5198682a multiple quantum well superlattice infrared. Pdf multispectral quantum dotsinawell infrared detectors. Temperature dependence of dark current in quantum well. Another existing ir technology is quantum well infrared photodetectors qwips 10, 11. Strained ingaasalgaas quantum well infrared detectors at. We have characterized and optimized the performance of qwips fabricated from quantum wells or barriers of algainas or gainasp material and made. A new twocolor infrared photodetector design using ingaasinalas coupled quantum wells august 1999 j. They have shown promising results, comparable with hgcdte photodiodes at low temperatures in lwir and very long wavelength regions vlwir. The physics of quantum well infrared photodetectors series.
Multispectral quantum dotsina well infrared detectors using plasmon assisted cavities. Responsivity and thermionic current in asymmetric quantum. Gaasbased multispectral detectors quantum well infrared photodetectors qwips are en visioned as a viable alternative to hgcdte infrared detectors. In principle, a photovoltaic detector is preferable to a photoconductive detector. Investigations of the performance of quantum well infrared photodetectors qwips as compared to other types of semiconductor infrared ir detectors are presented. The infrared sensitive element of the detector is a pbse single quantum well sqw embedded in an intrinsic region of a cdte pin diode.
Unfortunately, there are some fundamental problems, namely the fast auger recombination in interband detectors and the high thermal generation rate in intersubband detectors, which drastically decrease their ability for near room temperature operation in the longwavelength infrared range. Far infrared singlephoton detectors fabricated in double quantum well structures takeji ueda and susumu komiyama the university of tokyo japan 1. One of the most prominent architectures is the quantum well infrared photodetector qwip, 1 featuring high sensitivity and high. Multiple quantum well infrared detectors qwip based on gaas are an attractive alternative due to the well developed growth and processing technology. These materials are highly developed for purposes such as transistors, lasers and integrated circuits and have much more attractive materials properties. Quantum well infrared photodetector technology and. Temperature dependence of dark current in quantum well infrared detectors thomas r. The quantum well infrared photodetectors qwips discussed in this.
Qmagiq designs, manufactures, and sells longwave and midwave infrared focal plane arrays imaging in one color or two colors pixelregistered and simultaneous imagery. We describe the concept and experimental progress of the quantum well intrasubband photodetector qwisp, which is closely related to the quantum well infrared photodetector qwip, but uses the dopantassisted intrasubband absorption mechanism in quantum wells for normalincidence far infrared terahertz radiation detection. The compositional grading can be implemented by grading the doping levels of successive quantum wells or the relative proportions of elements in successive. Addressed to both students as a learning text and scientistsengineers as a reference, this book discusses the physics and applications of quantum well infrared photodetectors qwips. Qwips having widely different structures, materials, and spectral responses. It can be grown very uniformly into a large area by current epitaxial growth methods. In this paper, a high performance quantum well infrared photodetector. We demonstrate ptype sige quantum well infrared photodetectors qwips on a strainedsilicononinsulator ssoi substrate. The configuration and operation principles of our grating plasmonic microcavity quantum well infrared detector pcqwid are shown in figure 1, together with the. It is assumed that the reader has a basic background in quantum mechanics, solidstate physics, and semiconductor devices. To accurately characterize the detector performance, it is illuminated by using single mode midinfrared lasers. The technology developed at cqd can provide lowcost medical thermal imaging. Dualband quantum well infrared camera for target identification accomplishment.
The quantum well infrared photodetector qwip is a semiconductor infrared photon detector relying on intersubband absorption within either the conduction band. Zncdsezncdmgse quantum well infrared photodetector princeton. However, they operate at low temperatures requiring costly and bulky cryogenic systems. Quantum well infrared photodetectors physics and applications. Quantum well infrared photodetectors spie digital library. Indeed, these detectors rely on the use of gaas materials, and. The energy level of the bound state may be changed by altering the well width or barrier composition. Pdf dark current in quantum well infrared photodetectors.
It is assumed that the reader has a basic background in quantum mechanics, solidstate physics, and semiconductor. A detailed discussion is given on the device physics of the intersubband absorption and hot. Responsivity and thermionic current in asymmetric quantum well infrared detectors. Electrical engineering, halmstad university, 2009 abstract the detection of mwir mid wavelength infrared radiation is the important for industrial, biomedical and military applications.
Table 1 shows the comparison of various ir detectors. The detection mechanism is dependent on intersubband transitions as shown in figure 2, where the excitation of. In comparative studies both photon and thermal detectors are considered. Quantum well infrared photodetectors qwips based on iiiv semiconductor materials are well suited for application to dualband imagers because the operating wavelength can be varied over a large range that spans the midwave infrared mwir and the longwave infrared lwir atmospheric transmission windows of 3 to 5 and 8 to 12 m, respectively. Ultimate performance of quantum well infrared photodetectors in. Responsivity measures for infrared photodetectors at low.
In a thermal detector the incident radiation is absorbed to change temperature. Pdf corrugated quantum well infrared photodetectors for. Abstractquantum well infrared photodetectors qwips are known for their. With the new technology, these impedances can be eliminated and a new era of infrared imaging is in sight. Quantum well photoconductors in infrared detector technology article pdf available in journal of applied physics 938.
Quantum well infrared photodetector research and development at. Uncooled inasgasb typeii infrared detectors grown on. Beck sensors and electron devices directorate, arl mark s. Mirotznik the catholic university of america washington, dc thomas s. Printed in the uk i responsivity and thermionic current in 1 1 asymmetric quantum well infrared detectors a brandelt, a fraenkelt, e finkmant, g bahirt, g livescu. Quantum well infrared photodetector innovation pathway this case describes the development of quantum well infrared photodetectors qwips. Strained ingaasalgaas quantum well infrared detectors at 4. Nonuniform vertical charge transport and relaxation in. Future outlook 482 references 482 bibliography 484 problems 485 chapter 12. Inasgasb quantum well structures for infrared detector applications by abu syed mahajumi m. Mbe growth gaas substrate gaas well al xga 1xas barrier silicon doped. The advanced multispectral quantum well infrared detectors qwips developed at cqd can revolutionize infrared imaging.