Center for Quantum Devices - Journal Articles and Conference Proceedings

Page 1 (17 Items)

1.	Low irradiance background limited type-II superlattice MWIR M-barrier imager E.K. Huang, S. Abdollahi Pour, M.A. Hoang, A. Haddadi, M. Razeghi and M.Z. Tidrow OSA Optics Letters (OL), Vol. 37, No. 11, p. 2025-2027-- June 1, 2012 We report a type-II superlattice mid-wave infrared 320 × 256 imager at 81 K with the M-barrier design that achieved background limited performance (BLIP) and ∼99%operability. The 280 K blackbody’s photon irradiance was limited by an aperture and a band-pass filter from 3.6 μm to 3.8 μm resulting in a total flux of ∼5 × 10¹² ph·cm⁻²·s⁻¹. Under these low-light conditions, and consequently the use of a 13.5 ms integration time, the imager was observed to be BLIP thanks to a ∼5 pA dark current from the 27 μm wide pixels. The total noise was dominated by the photon flux and read-out circuit which gave the imager a noise equivalent input of ∼5 × 10¹⁰ ph·cm⁻²·s⁻¹ and temperature sensitivity of 9 mK with F∕2.3 optics. Excellent imagery obtained using a 1-point correction alludes to the array’s uniform responsivity. reprint
2.	Demonstration of shortwavelength infrared photodiodes based on type-II InAs/GaSb/AlSb superlattices A.M. Hoang, G. Chen, A. Haddadi, S. Abdollahi Pour, and M. Razeghi Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 100, No. 21, p. 211101-1-- May 21, 2012 We demonstrate the feasibility of the InAs/GaSb/AlSb type-II superlattice photodiodes operating at the short wavelength infrared regime below 3 μm. An n-i-p type-II InAs/GaSb/AlSb photodiode was grown with a designed cut-off wavelength of 2 μm on a GaSb substrate. At 150 K, the photodiode exhibited a dark current density of 5.6 × 10⁻⁸ A/cm² and a front-side-illuminated quantum efficiency of 40.3%, providing an associated shot noise detectivity of 1.0 × 10¹³ Jones. The uncooled photodiode showed a dark current density of 2.2 × 10⁻³ A/cm² and a quantum efficiency of 41.5%, resulting in a detectivity of 1.7 × 10¹⁰ Jones reprint
3.	Effect of contact doping on superlattice-based minority carrier unipolar detectors B.M. Nguyen, G. Chen, A.M. Hoang, S. Abdollahi Pour, S. Bogdanov, and M. Razeghi Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 99, No. 3, p. 033501-1-- July 18, 2011 We report the influence of the contact doping profile on the performance of superlattice-based minority carrier unipolar devices for mid-wave infrared detection. Unlike in a photodiode, the space charge in the p-contact of a pMp unipolar device is formed with accumulated mobile carriers, resulting in higher dark current in the device with highly doped p-contact. By reducing the doping concentration in the contact layer, the dark current is decreased by one order of magnitude. At 150 K, 4.9 μm cut-off devices exhibit a dark current of 2 × 10⁻⁵A/cm² and a quantum efficiency of 44%. The resulting specific detectivity is 6.2 × 10¹¹ cm·Hz^1/2/W at 150 K and exceeds 1.9 × 10¹⁴ cm·Hz^1/2/W at 77 K. reprint
4.	Type-II InAs/GaSb photodiodes and focal plane arrays aimed at high operating temperatures M. Razeghi, S. Abdollahi Pour, E.K. Huang, G. Chen, A. Haddadi, and B.M. Nguyen Opto-Electronics Review (OER), Vol. 19, No. 3, June 2011, p. 46-54-- June 1, 2011 Recent efforts to improve the performance of type-II InAs/GaSb superlattice photodiodes and focal plane arrays (FPA) have been reviewed. The theoretical bandstructure models have been discussed first. A review of recent developments in growth and characterization techniques is given. The efforts to improve the performance of MWIR photodiodes and focal plane arrays (FPAs) have been reviewed and the latest results have been reported. It is shown that these improvements has resulted in background limited performance (BLIP) of single element photodiodes up to 180 K. FPA shows a constant noise equivalent temperature difference (NEDT) of 11 mK up to 120 K and it shows human body imaging up to 170 K. reprint
5.	High operating temperature MWIR photon detectors based on Type II InAs/GaSb superlattice M. Razeghi, S. Abdollahi Pour, E.K. Huang, G. Chen, A. Haddadi and B.M. Nguyen SPIE Proceedings, Infrared Technology and Applications XXXVII, Orlando, FL, Vol. 8012, p. 80122Q-1-- April 26, 2011 Recent efforts have been paid to elevate the operating temperature of Type II superlattice Mid Infrared photon detectors. Using M-structure superlattice, novel device architectures have been developed, resulting in significant improvement of the device performances. In this paper, we will compare different photodetector architectures and discuss the optimization scheme which leads to almost one order of magnitude of improvement to the electrical performance. At 150K, single element detectors exhibit a quantum efficiency above 50%, and a specific detectivity of 1.05x10(12) cm.Hz(1/2)/W. BLIP operation with a 300K background and 2π FOV can be reached with an operating temperature up to 180K. High quality focal plane arrays were demonstrated with a noise equivalent temperature difference (NEDT) of 11mK up to 120K. Human body imaging is achieved at 150K with NEDT of 150mK. reprint
6.	Recent advances in high performance antimonide-based superlattice FPAs E.K. Huang, B.M. Nguyen, S.R. Darvish, S. Abdollahi Pour, G. Chen, A. Haddadi, and M.A. Hoang SPIE Proceedings, Infrared technology and Applications XXXVII, Orlando, FL, Vol. 8012, p. 80120T-1-- April 25, 2011 Infrared detection technologies entering the third generation demand performances for higher detectivity, higher operating temperature, higher resolution and multi-color detection, all accomplished with better yield and lower manufacturing/operating costs. Type-II antimonide based superlattices (T2SL) are making firm steps toward the new era of focal plane array imaging as witnessed in the unique advantages and significant progress achieved in recent years. In this talk, we will present the four research themes towards third generation imagers based on T2SL at the Center for Quantum Devices. High performance LWIR megapixel focal plane arrays (FPAs) are demonstrated at 80K with an NEDT of 23.6 mK using f/2 optics, an integration time of 0.13 ms and a 300 K background. MWIR and LWIR FPAs on non-native GaAs substrates are demonstrated as a proof of concept for the cost reduction and mass production of this technology. In the MWIR regime, progress has been made to elevate the operating temperature of the device, in order to avoid the burden of liquid nitrogen cooling. We have demonstrated a quantum efficiency above 50%, and a specific detectivity of 1.05x10¹² cm·Hz^1/2/W at 150 K for 4.2 μm cut-off single element devices. Progress on LWIR/LWIR dual color FPAs as well as novel approaches for FPA fabrication will also be discussed. reprint
7.	High operating temperature midwave infrared photodiodes and focal plane arrays based on type-II InAs/GaSb superlattices S. Abdollahi Pour, E.K. Huang, G. Chen, A. Haddadi, B.M. Nguyen and M. Razeghi Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 98, No. 14, p. 143501-1-- April 4, 2011 The dominant dark current mechanisms are identified and suppressed to improve the performance of midwave infrared InAs/GaSb Type-II superlattice photodiodes at high temperatures. The optimized heterojunction photodiode exhibits a quantum efficiency of 50% for 2 μm thick active region without any bias dependence. At 150 K, R₀A of 5100 Ω·cm² and specific detectivity of 1.05×10¹² cm·Hz^0.5·W^-1 are demonstrated for a 50% cutoff wavelength of 4.2 μm. Assuming 300 K background temperature and 2π field of view, the performance of the detector is background limited up to 180 K, which is improved by 25 °C compared to the homojunction photodiode. Infrared imaging using f/2.3 optics and an integration time of 10.02 ms demonstrates a noise equivalent temperature difference of 11 mK at operating temperatures below 120 K. reprint
8.	Tight-binding theory for the thermal evolution of optical band gaps in semiconductors and superlattices S. Abdollahi Pour, B. Movaghar, and M. Razeghi American Physical Review, Vol. 83, No. 11, p. 115331-1-- March 15, 2011 A method to handle the variation of the band gap with temperature in direct band-gap III–V semiconductors and superlattices using an empirical tight-binding method has been developed. The approach follows closely established procedures and allows parameter variations which give rise to perfect fits to the experimental data. We also apply the tight-binding method to the far more complex problem of band structures in Type-II infrared superlattices for which we have access to original experimental data recently acquired by our group. Given the close packing of bands in small band-gap Type-II designs, k·p methods become difficult to handle, and it turns out that the sp3s* tight-binding scheme is a practical and powerful asset. Other approaches to band-gap shrinkage explored in the past are discussed, scrutinized, and compared. This includes the lattice expansion term, the phonon softening mechanism, and the electron-phonon polaronic shifts calculated in perturbation theory. reprint
9.	Type-II Antimonide-based Superlattices for the Third Generation Infrared Focal Plane Arrays Manijeh Razeghi, Edward Kwei-wei Huang, Binh-Minh Nguyen, Siamak Abdollahi Pour, and Pierre-Yves Delaunay SPIE Proceedings, Infrared Technology and Applications XXXVI, Vol. 7660, pp. 76601F-- May 10, 2010 In recent years, the Type-II superlattice (T2SL) material platform has seen incredible growth in the understanding of its material properties which has lead to unprecedented development in the arena of device design. Its versatility in band-structure engineering is perhaps one of the greatest hallmarks of the T2SL that other material platforms are lacking. In this paper, we discuss advantages of the T2SL, specifically the M-structure T2SL, which incorporates AlSb in the traditional InAs/GaSb superlattice. Using the M-structure, we present a new unipolar minority electron detector coined as the p-M-p, the letters which describe the composition of the device. Demonstration of this device structure with a 14 μm cutoff attained a detectivity of 4x10¹⁰ Jones (-50 mV) at 77 K. As device performance improves year after year with novel design contributions from the many researchers in this field, the natural progression in further enabling the ubiquitous use of this technology is to reduce cost and support the fabrication of large infrared imagers. In this paper, we also discuss the use of GaAs substrates as an enabling technology for third generation imaging on T2SLs. Despite the 7.8% lattice mismatch between the native GaSb and alternative GaAs substrates, T2SL photodiodes grown on GaAs at the MWIR and LWIR have been demonstrated at an operating temperature of 77 K reprint
10.	High operating temperature MWIR photon detectors based on Type-II InAs/GaSb superlattice M. Razeghi, B.M. Nguyen, P.Y. Delaunay, S. Abdollahi Pour, E.K.W. Huang, P. Manukar, S. Bogdanov, and G. Chen SPIE Proceedings, San Francisco, CA (January 22-28, 2010), Vol. 7608, p. 76081Q-1-- January 22, 2010 Recent efforts have been paid to elevate the operating temperature of Type-II InAs/GaSb superlattice Mid Infrared photon detectors. Optimized growth parameters and interface engineering technique enable high quality material with a quantum efficiency above 50%. Intensive study on device architecture and doping profile has resulted in almost one order of magnitude of improvement to the electrical performance and lifted up the 300 K-background BLIP operation temperature to 166 K. At 77 K, the ~4.2 µm cut-off devices exhibit a differential resistance area product in excess of the measurement system limit (10⁶ Ω·cm²) and a detectivity of 3x10¹³ cm·Hz^½·W⁻¹. High quality focal plane arrays were demonstrated with a noise equivalent temperature of 10 mK at 77 K. Uncooled camera is capable to capture hot objects such as soldering iron. reprint
11.	Minority electron unipolar photodetectors based on Type-II InAs/GaSb/AlSb superlattices for very long wavelength infrared detection B.M. Nguyen, S. Abdollahi Pour, S. Bogdanov and M. Razeghi SPIE Proceedings, San Francisco, CA (January 22-28, 2010), Vol. 7608, p. 760825-1-- January 22, 2010 The bandstructure tunability of Type-II antimonide-based superlattices has been significantly enhanced since the introduction of the M-structure superlattice, resulting in significant improvements of Type-II superlattice infrared detectors. By using M-structure, we developed the pMp design, a novel infrared photodetector architecture that inherits the advantages of traditional photoconductive and photovoltaic devices. This minority electron unipolar device consists of an M-structure barrier layer blocking the transport of majority holes in a p-type semiconductor, resulting in an electrical transport due to minority carriers with low current density. Applied for the very long wavelength detection, at 77K, a 14µm cutoff detector exhibits a dark current 3.3 mA·cm⁻², a photoresponsivity of 1.4 A/W at 50mV bias and the associated shot-noise detectivity of 4x10¹⁰ Jones. reprint
12.	Minority electron unipolar photodetectors based on Type-II InAs/GaSb/AlSb superlattices for very long wavelength infrared detection B.M. Nguyen, S. Bogdanov, S. Abdollahi Pour, and M. Razeghi Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 95, No. 18, p. 183502-- November 2, 2009 We present a hybrid photodetector design that inherits the advantages of traditional photoconductive and photovoltaic devices. The structure consists of a barrier layer blocking the transport of majority holes in a p-type semiconductor, resulting in an electrical transport due to minority carriers with low current density. By using the M-structure superlattice as a barrier region, the band alignments can be experimentally controlled, allowing for the efficient extraction of the photosignal with less than 50 mV bias. At 77 K, a 14 µm cutoff detector exhibits a dark current 3.3 mA·cm⁻², a photoresponsivity of 1.4 A/W, and the associated shot noise detectivity of 4×10¹⁰ Jones. reprint
13.	Demonstration of high performance long wavelength infrared Type-II InAs/GaSb superlattice photodidoe grown on GaAs substrate S. Abdollahi Pour, B.M. Nguyen, S. Bogdanov, E.K. Huang, and M. Razeghi Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 95, No. 17, p. 173505-- October 26, 2009 We report the growth and characterization of long wavelength infrared type-II InAs/GaSb superlattice photodiodes with a 50% cut-off wavelength at 11 µm, on GaAs substrate. Despite a 7.3% lattice mismatch to the substrate, photodiodes passivated with polyimide exhibit an R₀A value of 35 Ω·cm² at 77 K, which is in the same order of magnitude as reference devices grown on native GaSb substrate. With a reverse applied bias less than 500 mV, the dark current density and differential resistance-area product are close to that of devices on GaSb substrate, within the tolerance of the processing and measurement. The quantum efficiency attains the expected value of 20% at zero bias, resulting in a Johnson limited detectivity of 1.1×10¹¹ Jones. Although some difference in performances is observed, devices grown on GaAs substrate already attained the background limit performance at 77 K with a 300 K background and a 2-π field of view. reprint
14.	State-of-the-art Type II Antimonide-based superlattice photodiodes for infrared detection and imaging M. Razeghi, B.M. Nguyen, P.Y. Delaunay, E.K. Huang, S. Abdollahi Pour, P. Manurkar, and S. Bogdanov SPIE Proceedings, Nanophotonics and Macrophotonics for Space Environments II, San Diego, CA, Vol. 7467, p. 74670T-1-- August 5, 2009 Type-II InAs/GaSb Superlattice (SL), a system of multi interacting quantum wells was first introduced by Nobel Laureate L. Esaki in the 1970s. Since then, this low dimensional system has drawn a lot of attention for its attractive quantum mechanics properties and its grand potential for the emergence into the application world, especially in infrared detection. In recent years, Type-II InAs/GaSb superlattice photo-detectors have experienced significant improvements in material quality, structural designs and imaging applications which elevated the performances of Type-II InAs/GaSb superlattice photodetectors to a comparable level to the state-of-the-art Mercury Cadmium Telluride. We will present in this talk the current status of the state-of-the-art Type II superlattice photodetectors and focal plane arrays, and the future outlook for this material system. reprint
15.	Quantum dot in a well infrared photodetectors for high operating temperature focal plane arrays S. Tsao, T. Yamanaka, S. Abdollahi Pour, I-K Park, B. Movaghar and M. Razeghi SPIE Proceedings, San Jose, CA Volume 7234-0V-- January 25, 2009 InAs quantum dots embedded in InGaAs quantum wells with InAlAs barriers on InP substrate grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition are utilized for high operating temperature detectors and focal plane arrays in the middle wavelength infrared. This dot-well combination is unique because the small band offset between the InAs dots and the InGaAs well leads to weak dot confinement of carriers. As a result, the device behavior differs significantly from that in the more common dot systems that have stronger confinement. Here, we present energy level modeling of our QD-QW system and apply these results to interpret the detector behavior. Detectors showed high performance with D* over 10¹⁰ cm·Hz^1/2W^-1 at 150 K operating temperature and with high quantum efficiency over 50%. Focal plane arrays have been demonstrated operating at high temperature due to the low dark current observed in these devices. reprint
16.	Gain and recombination dynamics in photodetectors made with quantum nanostructures: the quantum dot in a well and the quantum well B. Movaghar, S. Tsao, S. Abdollahi Pour, T. Yamanaka, and M. Razeghi Virtual Journal of Nanoscale Science & Technology, Vol. 18, No. 14-- October 6, 2008reprint
17.	Gain and recombination dynamics in photodetectors made with quantum nanostructures: The quantum dot in a well and the quantum well B. Movaghar, S. Tsao, S. Abdollahi Pour, T. Yamanaka, and M. Razeghi Physical Review B, Vol. 78, No. 11-- September 15, 2008 We consider the problem of charge transport and recombination in semiconductor quantum well infrared photodetectors and quantum-dot-in-a-well infrared detectors. The photoexcited carrier relaxation is calculated using rigorous random-walk and diffusion methods, which take into account the finiteness of recombination cross sections, and if necessary the memory of the carrier generation point. In the present application, bias fields are high and it is sufficient to consider the drift limited regime. The photoconductive gain is discussed in a quantum-mechanical language, making it more transparent, especially with regard to understanding the bias and temperature dependence. Comparing experiment and theory, we can estimate the respective recombination times. The method developed here applies equally well to nanopillar structures, provided account is taken of changes in mobility and trapping. Finally, we also derive formulas for the photocurrent time decays, which in a clean system at high bias are sums of two exponentials. reprint

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