Abstract
A majority of IR sensors used for imaging arrays operating in the long-wavelength IR region between 8 μm-12 μm are based on mercury cadmium telluride (HgCdTe). This material system is unable to satisfy all the requirements imposed by modern applications. Structural difficulties due to poor uniformity, high defect densities, and weak bond strengths cause difficulties in manufacturing large IR focal plane array cameras. As an alternative, quantum well infrared photodetectors (QWIPs) utilizing intersubband absorption between gallium arsenide (GaAs) wells and aluminum gallium arsenide (AlGaAs) barriers were perfected. These QWIPs possess better uniformity in comparison to HgCdTe detectors, and QWIP imaging arrays have recently become commercially available. However, the responsivity of GaAs/AlGaAs QWIPs is still lower than HgCdTe detectors. To further improve the responsivity of QWIP detectors, QWIPs with wells or barriers of GaInAsP instead of AlGaAs have been developed. Results of QWIPs made from the material systems GaAs/GaInP, GaInAs(P)/InP, (Al)GaInAs/InP, and GaInAs/ AlInAs have been discussed.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 35-52 |
| Number of pages | 18 |
| Journal | Defence Science Journal |
| Volume | 51 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jan 2001 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Chemical Engineering
- Biomedical Engineering
- Mechanical Engineering
- General Physics and Astronomy
- Computer Science Applications
- Electrical and Electronic Engineering
