A revision of the standard approach to characterization of thin-semiconductor-layer Hall samples has been proposed. Our results show that simple checking of I(V) curve linearity at room temperature might be insufficient for correct determination of bias conditions of a sample before measurements of Hall effect. It is caused by the nonlinear behaviour of electrical contact layers, which should be treated together with the tested layer a priori as a metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) structure. Our approach was examined with a Be-doped p-type InAs epitaxial layer, with four gold contacts. Despite using full high-quality photolithography a significant asymmetry in maximum differential resistance (Rd) values and positions relative to zero voltage (or current) value was observed for different contacts. This suggests that such characterization should be performed before each high-precision magneto-transport measurement in order to optimize the bias conditions.

The paper presents the method and results of low-frequency noise measurements of modern mid-wavelength infrared photodetectors. A type-II InAs/GaSb superlattice based detector with nBn barrier architecture is compared with a high operating temperature (HOT) heterojunction HgCdTe detector. All experiments were made in the range 1 Hz - 10 kHz at various temperatures by using a transimpedance detection system, which is examined in detail. The power spectral density of the nBn’s dark current noise includes Lorentzians with different time constants while the HgCdTe photodiode has more uniform 1/f - shaped spectra. For small bias, the low-frequency noise power spectra of both devices were found to scale linearly with bias voltage squared and were connected with the fluctuations of the leakage resistance. Leakage resistance noise defines the lower noise limit of a photodetector. Other dark current components give raise to the increase of low-frequency noise above this limit. For the same voltage biasing devices, the absolute noise power densities at 1 Hz in nBn are 1 to 2 orders of magnitude lower than in a MCT HgCdTe detector. In spite of this, low-frequency performance of the HgCdTe detector at ~ 230K is still better than that of InAs/GaSb superlattice nBn detector.

In this work we report simulation and experimental results for an MWIR HgCdTe photodetector designed by computer simulation and fabricated in a joint laboratory run by VIGO Sytems S.A. and Military University of Technology. The device is based on a modified N+pP+ heterostructure grown on 2”., epiready, semi-insulating (100) GaAs substrates in a horizontal MOCVD AIX 200 reactor.

The devices were examined by measurements of spectral and time responses as a function of a bias voltage and operating temperatures. The time response was measured with an Optical Parametric Oscillator (OPO) as the source of ~25 ps pulses of infrared radiation, tuneable in a 1.55–16 μm spectral range. Two-stage Peltier cooled devices (230 K) with a 4.1 μm cut-off wavelength were characterized by 1.6 × 1012 cm Hz1/2/W peak detectivity and < 1 ns time constant for V > 500 mV.

Accurate determination of material parameters, such as carrier lifetimes and defect activation energy, is a significant problem in the technology of infrared detectors. Among many different techniques, using the time resolved photoluminescence spectroscopy allows to determine the narrow energy gap materials, as well as their time dynamics. In this technique, it is possible to observe time dynamics of all processes in the measured sample as in a streak camera. In this article, the signal processing for the above technique for Hg(1-x)CdxTe with a composition x of about 0.3 which plays an extremely important role in the mid-infrared is presented. Machine learning algorithms based on the independent components analysis were used to determine components of the analyzed data series. Two different filtering techniques were investigated. In the article, it is shown how to reduce noise using the independent components analysis and what are the advantages, as well as disadvantages, of selected methods of the independent components analysis filtering. The proposed method might allow to distinguish, based on the analysis of photoluminescence spectra, the location of typical defect levels in HgCdTe described in the literature.

Careful selection of the physical model of the material for a specific doping and selected operating temperatures is a non-trivial task. In numerical simulations that optimize practical devices such as detectors or lasers architecture, this challenge can be very difficult. However, even for such a well-known material as a 5 µm thick layer of indium arsenide on a semi-insulating gallium arsenide substrate, choosing a realistic set of band structure parameters for valence bands is remarkable. Here, the authors test the applicability range of various models of the valence band geometry, using a series of InAs samples with varying levels of p-type doping. Carefully prepared and pretested the van der Pauw geometry samples have been used for magneto-transport data acquisition in the 20–300 K temperature range and magnetic fields up to ±15 T, combined with a mobility spectra analysis. It was shown that in a degenerate statistic regime, temperature trends of mobility for heavy- and light-holes are uncorrelated. It has also been shown that parameters of the valence band effective masses with warping effect inclusion should be used for selected acceptor dopant levels and range of temperatures.