Résultat de la recherche
Mid-infrared quantum cascade detectors for applications in spectroscopy and pyrometry
An overview of quantum cascade detector technology for the near- and mid-infrared wavelength range will be given. Thanks to photovoltaic instead of photoconductive operation, quantum cascade detectors offer great opportunities in terms of detection speed, room temperature operation, and detectivity. Besides some crucial issues dealing with fabrication and general characteristics, some possibilities for performance improvement will also be briefly presented. In a theory section, some basic considerations adopted from photoconductive detectors confirm the necessity of various trade-offs for the optimization of such devices. Nevertheless, we will show several possible measures to push the key performance figures of these detectors closer to their physical and technological limits.
Mid-infrared quantum cascade detectors for applications in spectroscopy and pyrometry
In this paper, we give an overview of quantum cascade detector technology for the near- and mid-infrared wavelength range. Thanks to their photovoltaic operating principle, the most advanced quantum cascade detectors offer great opportunities in terms of high detection speed, reliable room temperature operation, and excellent Johnson noise limited detectivity. Besides some important features dealing with their fabrication and their general characteristics, we will also briefly present some possibilities for performance improvement. Elementary theoretical considerations adopted from photoconductive detectors confirm that optimization of such devices always involves various trade-offs.
Photodetectors based on intersubband transitions using III-nitride superlattice structures
We review our recent progress on the fabrication of near-infrared photodetectors based on intersubband transitions in AlN/GaN superlattice structures. Such devices were first demonstrated in 2003, and have since then seen a quite substantial development both in terms of detector responsivity and high speed operation. Nowadays, the most impressive results include characterization up to 3 GHz using a directly modulated semiconductor laser and up to 13.3 GHz using an ultra-short pulse solid state laser.
Midinfrared quantum cascade detector with a spectrally broad response
A midinfrared quantum cascade detector with a spectrally broad (ΔE/E = 27.3%) response is designed, fabricated, and tested. This detector consists of 26 differently designed active region stages in order to cover a wavelength region from 4.7 to 7.4 μm. The device could be operated above room temperature and showed peak responsivities of 13 mA/W at 10 K and 1.25 mA/W at room temperature. A background limited detectivity of 1.55×1010 Jones was seen up to a temperature TBLIP of 110 K.
Intersubband Transition-Based Processes and Devices in AlN/GaN-Based Heterostructures
We report on the physics, epitaxial growth, fabrication, and characterization of optoelectronic devices based on intersubband transitions in the AlN/GaN material system. While in 1999, only results of optical absorption experiments could be shown, photodetectors and modulators with operation frequencies beyond 10 GHz as well as optically pumped light emitters have been demonstrated recently. This is the reason for a comprehensive report on the most important properties of such devices. Beside some basic theoretical considerations, we will concentrate on the fabrication and characterization of modulators, switches, photodetectors, and light emitters. At the end of this paper, an outlook to future trends and developments in this emerging field will be given.
Monolithically integrated UV/IR-photodetectors based on an AlN/GaN-based superlattice grown on an AlGaN buffer layer
In this article, we demonstrate closely spaced, monolithically integrated photodetectors in two largely different wavelength ranges. The epitaxial structure of the devices was grown by plasma-assisted molecular-beam epitaxy on an AlN-on-sapphire template; it consists of a Si-doped AlGaN thin film, and a nearly strain compensated 40 period AlN/GaN superlattice with 1.0 nm thick GaN quantum wells and 2.0 nm thick AlN barriers. The entire structure is covered with an AlGaN cap layer. The superlattice acts as active region for the infrared detector, while the AlGaN buffer layer serves as active area for the ultraviolet detector. While the photovoltaic near-infrared detector has a center wavelength of 1.37 μm, the photoconductive ultraviolet detector has a long wavelength cutoff at 250 nm. The two detectors could be operated up to room temperature with reasonable sensitivities.
MBE growth of AlN/GaN-based photovoltaic intersubband photodetectors
We report on the molecular-beam epitaxial growth, fabrication and characterization of AlN/GaN photovoltaic quantum well infrared photodetectors operating at 1.55 µm. Devices display a spectrally-narrow photovoltaic response to p-polarized light in the near infrared at room temperature. We have analysed the effect of the growth temperature, quantum well thickness, and number of periods in the active region, concluding that responsivity is enhanced by growing at relatively low temperature and by increasing the number of quantum wells.
Performance improvement of AlN/GaN-based intersubband detectors thanks to quantum dot active regions
Since the operating mode of 1.55 µm AlN/GaN-based intersubband photodetectors is based on optical rectification, both the excited state lifetime and the lateral displacement of the carriers play an important role for performance optimization. We thus show here results of an improved detector generation based on a novel type of active region. Thanks to the use of quantum dots instead of quantum wells, a factor of 60 could be gained in terms of maximum responsivity. In addition, the maximum performance was achieved at a considerably higher temperature of 160 K instead of 80 K as typically seen for quantum wells.
Quantum Cascade Detectors
This paper gives an overview on the design, fabrication, and characterization of quantum cascade detectors. They are tailorable infrared photodetectors based on intersubband transitions in semiconductor quantum wells that do not require an external bias voltage due to their asymmetric conduction band profile. They thus profit from favorable noise behavior, reduced thermal load, and simpler readout circuits. This was demonstrated at wavelengths from the near infrared at 2 μm to THz radiation at 87 μm using different semiconductor material systems.
GaN/AlN short-period superlattices for intersubband optoelectronics: A systematic study of their epitaxial growth, design, and performance
We have studied the effect of growth and design parameters on the performance of Si-doped GaN/AlN multiquantum-well (MQW) structures for intersubband optoelectronics in the near infrared. The samples under study display infrared absorption in the 1.3–1.9 μm wavelength range, originating from the photoexcitation of electrons from the first to the second electronic level in the QWs. A commonly observed feature is the presence of multiple peaks in both intersubband absorption and interband emission spectra, which are attributed to monolayer thickness fluctuations in the quantum wells. These thickness fluctuations are induced by dislocations and eventually by cracks or metal accumulation during growth. The best optical performance is attained in samples synthesized with a moderate Ga excess during the growth of both the GaN QWs and the AlN barriers without growth interruptions. The optical properties are degraded at high growth temperatures (>720 °C) due to the thermal activation of the AlN etching of GaN. From the point of view of strain, GaN/AlN MQWs evolve rapidly to an equilibrium average lattice parameter, which is independent of the substrate. As a result, we do not observe any significant effect of the underlayers on the optical performance of the MQW structure. The average lattice parameter is different from the expected value from elastic energy minimization, which points out the presence of periodic misfit dislocations in the structure. The structural quality of the samples is independent of Si doping up to 1020 cm−3. By contrast, the intersubband absorption spectrum broadens and blueshifts with doping as a result of electron-electron interactions. This behavior is independent of the Si doping location in the structure, either in the QWs or in the barriers. It is found that the magnitude of the intersubband absorption is not directly determined by the Si concentration in the wells. Instead, depending on the Al mole fraction of the cap layer, the internal electric field due to piezoelectric and spontaneous polarization can deplete or induce charge accumulation in the QWs. In fact, this polarization-induced doping can result in a significant and even dominant contribution to the infrared absorption in GaN/AlN MQW structures.