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.

The paper reports on the photoelectrical performance of the long wavelength infrared (LWIR) HgCdTe high operating temperature (HOT) detector. The detector structure was simulated with commercially available software APSYS by Crosslight Inc. taking into account SRH, Auger and tunnelling currents. A detailed analysis of the detector performance such as dark current, detectivity, time response as a function of device architecture and applied bias is performed, pointing out optimal working conditions.

The paper reports on a long-wave infrared (cut-off wavelength ~ 9 μm) HgCdTe detector operating under nbiased condition and room temperature (300 K) for both short response time and high detectivity operation. The ptimal structure in terms of the response time and detectivity versus device architecture was shown. The response time of the long-wave (active layer Cd composition, xCd = 0.19) HgCdTe detector for 300 K was calculated at a level of τs ~ 1 ns for zero bias condition, while the detectivity − at a level of D* ~ 109 cmHz1/2/W assuming immersion. It was presented that parameters of the active layer and P+ barrier layer play a critical role in order to reach τs ≤ 1 ns. An extra series resistance related to the processing (RS+ in a range 5−10 Ω) increased the response time more than two times (τs ~ 2.3 ns).

In the paper recent progress at VIGO/MUT (Military University of Technology) MOCVD Laboratory in the growth of Hg1-xCdxTe (HgCdTe) multilayer heterostructures on GaAs/CdTe substrates is presented. The optimum conditions for the growth of single layers and complex multilayer heterostructures have been established. One of the crucial stages of HgCdTe epitaxy is CdTe nucleation on GaAs substrate. Successful composite substrates have been obtained with suitable substrate preparation, liner and susceptor treatment, proper control of background fluxes and appropriate nucleation conditions. The other critical stage is the interdiffused multilayer process (IMP). The growth of device-quality HgCdTe heterostructures requires complete homogenization of CdTe-HgTe pairs preserving at the same time suitable sharpness of composition and doping profiles. This requires for IMP pairs to be very thin and grown in a short time.

Arsenic and iodine have been used for acceptor and donor doping. Suitable growth conditions and post growth anneal is essential for stable and reproducible doping. In situ anneal seems to be sufficient for iodine doping at any required level. In contrast, efficient As doping with near 100% activation requires ex situ anneal at near saturated mercury vapours. As a result we are able to grow multilayer fully doped (100) and (111) heterostructures for various infrared devices including photoconductors, photoelectromagnetic and photovoltaic detectors. The present generation of uncooled long wavelength infrared devices is based on multijunction photovoltaic devices. The technology steps in fabrication of devices are described. It is shown that near-BLIP performance is possible to achieve at ≈ 230 K with optical immersion. These devices are especially promising as 7.8–9.5 um detectors, indicating the potential for achieving detectivities above 109 cmHz1/2/W.

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.

The performance of long-wave infrared (LWIR) x = 0.22 HgCdTe avalanche photodiodes (APDs) was presented. The dark current-voltage characteristics at temperatures 200 K, 230 K, and 300 K were measured and numerically simulated. Theoretical modeling was performed by the numerical Apsys platform (Crosslight). The effects of the tunneling currents and impact ionization in HgCdTe APDs were calculated. Dark currents exhibit peculiar features which were observed experimentally. The proper agreement between the theoretical and experimental characteristics allowed to determine the material parameters of the absorber was reached. The effect of the multiplication layer profile on the detector characteristics was observed but was found to be insignificant.

Effect of annealing on the structural properties of arsenic-implanted mercury cadmium telluride film grown by molecular beam epitaxy was studied with the use of transmission electron microscopy and optical reflection. Strong influence of the graded-gap surface layer grown on top of the film on the behaviour of implantation-induced defects under arsenic activation annealing was revealed and interpreted.

We report on the status of long-wave infrared Auger suppressed HgCdTe multilayer structures grown on GaAs substrates designed for high operating temperature condition: 200-300 K exhibiting, detectivity -10¹¹ cmHz^1/2/W, time response within a –120 ps range at 230 K. Abnormal responsivity within the range of -30 A/W for electrical area 30×30 μm² under reverse bias V = 150 mV is reported. Maximum extraction coefficient of -2.3 was estimated for analysed structures.

Analysis is performed of the contemporary views on the effect of ion etching (ion-beam milling and reactive ion etching) on physical properties of HgCdTe and on the mechanisms of the processes responsible for modification of these properties under the etching. Possibilities are discussed that ion etching opens for defect studies in HgCdTe, including detecting electrically neutral tellurium nanocomplexes, determining background donor concentration in the material of various origins, and understanding the mechanism of arsenic incorporation in molecular-beam epitaxy-grown films.

We present an overview of our technological achievements in the implementation of detector structures based on mercury cadmium telluride (MCT) heterostructures and nanostructures for IR and THz spectral ranges. We use a special MBE design set for the epitaxial layer growth on (013) GaAs substrates with ZnTe and CdTe buffer layers up to 3” in diameter with the precise ellipsometric monitoring in situ. The growth of MCT alloy heterostructures with the optimal composition distribution throughout the thickness allows for the realization of different types of many-layered heterostructures and quantum wells to prepare the material for fabricating single- or dual-band IR and THz detectors.

We also present the two-color broad-band bolometric detectors based on the epitaxial MCT layers that are sensitive in 150–300-GHz subterahertz and infrared ranges from 3 to 10 μm, which operate at the ambient or liquid nitrogen temperatures as photoconductors, as well as the detectors based on planar HgTe quantum wells. The design and dimensions of THz detector antennas are optimized for reasonable detector sensitivity values. A special diffraction limited optical system for the detector testing was designed and manufactured. We represent here the THz images of objects hidden behind a plasterboard or foam plastic packaging, obtained at the radiation frequencies of 70, 140, and 275 GHz, respectively.

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.

Studies of background donor concentration (BDC) in HgCdTe samples grown with different types of technology were performed with the use of ion milling as a means of eliminating the compensating acceptors. In bulk crystals, films grown with liquid phase epitaxy and films fabricated with molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) on Si substrates, BDC of the order of ~10¹⁴ cm^-3 was revealed. Films grown with metal−organic chemical vapour deposition and with MBE on GaAs substrates showed BDC of the order of ~10¹⁵ cm^-3. A possibility of assessing the BDC in acceptor (arsenic)−doped HgCdTe was demon− strated. In general, the studies showed the effectiveness of ion milling as a method of reducing electrical compensation in n−type MCT and as an excellent tool for assisting evaluation of BDC.

A theoretical analysis of the mid-wavelength infrared range detectors based on the HgCdTe materials for high operating temperatures is presented. Numerical calculations were compared with the experimental data for HgCdTe heterostructures grown by the MOCVD on the GaAs substrates. Theoretical modelling was performed by the commercial platform SimuAPSYS (Crosslight). SimuAPSYS fully supports numerical simulations and helps understand the mechanisms occurring in the detector structures. Theoretical estimates were compared with the dark current density experimental data at the selected characteristic temperatures: 230 K and 300 K. The proper agreement between theoretical and experimental data was reached by changing Auger-1 and Auger-7 recombination rates and Shockley-Read-Hall carrier lifetime. The level of the match was confirmed by a theoretical evaluation of the current responsivity and zero-bias dynamic resistance area product (R0A) of the tested detectors.

The performance of HgCdTe barrier detectors with cut-off wavelengths up to 3.6 μm fabricated using metaloorganic chemi- cal vapour deposition operated at high temperatures is presented. The detectors’ architecture consists of four layers: cap contact, wide bandgap barrier, absorber and bottom contact layer. The structures were fabricated both with n- and p-type absorbing layers. In the paper, different design of cap-barrier structural unit (n-B_p′, n⁺-B_p′, p+-B_p) were analysed in terms of various electrical and optical properties of the detectors, such as dark current, current responsivity time constant and detectivity.

The devices with a p-type cap contact exhibit very low dark current densities in the range of (2÷3)×10^-4 A/cm² at 230 K and the maximum photoresponse of about 2 A/W in wide range of reverse bias voltage. The time constant of measured de- vices with n-type cap contact and p-type absorbing drops below 1 ns with reverse bias while the detectivity is at the level of 1010 cm ^∙ Hz1/2/W.

The temperature dependence of photoluminescence spectra has been studied for the HgCdTe epilayer. At low temperatures, the signal has plenty of band-tail states and shallow/deep defects which makes it difficult to evaluate the material bandgap. In most of the published reports, the photoluminescence spectrum containing multiple peaks is analyzed using a Gaussian fit to a particular peak. However, the determination of the peak position deviates from the energy gap value. Consequently, it may seem that a blue shift with increasing temperature becomes apparent. In our approach, the main peak was fitted with the expression proportional to the product of the joint density of states and the Boltzmann distribution function. The energy gap determined on this basis coincides in the entire temperature range with the theoretical Hansen dependence for the assumed Cd molar composition of the active layer. In addition, the result coincides well with the bandgap energy determined on the basis of the cut-off wavelength at which the detector response drops to 50% of the peak value.

Graphene applications in electronic and optoelectronic devices have been thoroughly and intensively studied since graphene discovery. Thanks to the exceptional electronic and optical properties of graphene and other two-dimensional (2D) materials, they can become promising candidates for infrared and terahertz photodetectors.

Quantity of the published papers devoted to 2D materials as sensors is huge. However, authors of these papers address them mainly to researches involved in investigations of 2D materials. In the present paper this topic is treated comprehensively with including both theoretical estimations and many experimental data.

At the beginning fundamental properties and performance of graphene-based, as well as alternative 2D materials have been shortly described. Next, the position of 2D material detectors is considered in confrontation with the present stage of infrared and terahertz detectors offered on global market. A new benchmark, so-called “Law 19”, used for prediction of background limited HgCdTe photodiodes operated at near room temperature, is introduced. This law is next treated as the reference for alternative 2D material technologies. The performance comparison concerns the detector responsivity, detectivity and response time. Place of 2D material-based detectors in the near future in a wide infrared detector family is predicted in the final conclusions.

The operation of narrow-gap semiconductor devices under non-equilibrium mode is used at temperatures where the materials are normally intrinsic. The phenomenon of minority carrier exclusion and extraction was particularly discussed in the case of the suppression of Auger thermal generation in heterojunction photodiodes, especially important in the long-wave infrared range. This paper shows that the reduction of the dark current in the HgCdTe photodiode operating in the mid-wave infrared range is primarily the result of suppression of the Shockley-Read-Hall generation in the non-equilibrium absorber. Under a reverse bias, the majority carrier concentration is held equal to the majority carrier doping level. This effect also leads to a decreased majority carrier population at the trap level and an effective increase in the carrier lifetime. The analysed device was with the following design: p+-Bp cap-barrier unit, p-type absorber doped at the level of 8 ·1015 cm−3, and wide-bandgap N+ bottom contact layer. At room temperature, the lowest dark current density of 3.12 ·10−1 A/cm2 was consistent with the theoretically predicted Shockley-Read-Hall suppression mechanism, about two times smaller than for the equilibrium case.

This paper presents examples of infrared detectors with mercury cadmium telluride elaborated at the Institute of Applied Physics, Military University of Technology and VIGO Photonics S.A. Fully doped HgCdTe epilayers were grown with the metal organic chemical vapour deposition technique which provides a wide range of material composition covering the entire infrared range from 1.5 µm to 14 µm. Fundamental issues concerning the design of individual areas of the heterostructure including: the absorber, contacts, and transient layers with respect to their thickness, doping and composition were discussed. An example of determining the gain is also given pointing to the potential application of the obtained devices in avalanche photodiode detectors that can amplify weak optical signals. Selected examples of the analysis of current-voltage and spectral characteristics are shown. Multiple detectors based on a connection in series of small individual structures are also presented as a solution to overcome inherent problems of low resistance of LWIR photodiodes. The HgCdTe detectors were compared with detectors from III-V materials. The detectors based on InAs/InAsSb superlattice materials achieve very comparable parameters and, in some respects, they are even superior to those with mercury cadmium telluride.

The dual-band avalanche photodiode (APD) detector based on a HgCdTe material system was designed and analysed in detail numerically. A theoretical analysis of the two-colour APD intended for the mid wavelength infrared (MWIR) and long wavelength infrared (LWIR) ranges was conducted. The main purpose of the work was to indicate an approach to select APD structure parameters to achieve the best performance at high operating temperatures (HOT). The numerical simulations were performed by Crosslight numerical APSYS platform which is designed to simulate semiconductor optoelectronic devices. The current-voltage characteristics, current gain, and excess noise analysis at temperature T = 230 K vs. applied voltage for MWIR (U = 15 V) and LWIR (U = –6 V) ranges were performed. The influence of low and high doping in both active layers and barrier on the current gain and excess noise is shown. It was presented that an increase of the APD active layer doping leads to an increase in the photocurrent gain in the LWIR detector and a decrease in the MWIR device. The dark current and photocurrent gains were compared. Photocurrent gain is higher in both spectral ranges.

In the past decade, there has been significant progress in development of the colloidal quantum dot (CQD) photodetectors. The QCD’s potential advantages include: cheap and easy fabrications, size-tuneable across wide infrared spectral region, and direct coating on silicon electronics for imaging, which potentially reduces array cost and offers new modifications like flexible infrared detectors. The performance of CQD high operating temperature (HOT) photodetectors is lower in comparison with detectors traditionally available on the global market (InGaAs, HgCdTe and type-II superlattices). In several papers their performance is compared with the semiempirical rule, “Rule 07” (specified in 2007) for P-on-n HgCdTe photodiodes. However, at present stage of technology, the fully-depleted background limited HgCdTe photodiodes can achieve the level of room-temperature dark current considerably lower than predicted by Rule 07. In this paper, the performance of HOT CQD photodetectors is compared with that predicted for depleted P-i-N HgCdTe photodiodes. Theoretical estimations are collated with experimental data for both HgCdTe photodiodes and CQD detectors. The presented estimates provide further encouragement for achieving low-cost and high performance MWIR and LWIR HgCdTe focal plane arrays operating in HOT conditions.

In the last decade several papers have announced usefulness of two-dimensional materials for high operating temperature photodetectors covering long wavelength infrared spectral region. Transition metal dichalcogenide photodetectors, such as PdSe ₂/MoS ₂ and WS ₂/HfS ₂ and WS ₂/HfS ₂ heterojunctions, have been shown to achieve record detectivities at room temperature (higher than HgCdTe photodiodes). Under these circumstances, it is reasonable to consider the advantages and disadvantages of two-dimensional materials for infrared detection. This review attempts to answer the question thus posed.

The semiempirical rule, “Rule 07” specified in 2007 for P-on-n HgCdTe photodiodes has become widely popular within infrared community as a reference for other technologies, notably for III-V barrier photodetectors and type-II superlattice photodiodes. However, in the last decade in several papers it has been shown that the measured dark current density of HgCdTe photodiodes is considerably lower than predicted by benchmark Rule 07. Our theoretical estimates carried out in this paper support experimental data. Graphene and other 2D materials, due to their extraordinary and unusual electronic and optical properties, are promising candidates for high-operating temperature infrared photodetectors. In the paper their room-temperature performance is compared with that estimated for depleted P i-N HgCdTe photodiodes. Two important conclusions result from our considerations: the first one, the performance of 2D materials is lower in comparison with traditional detectors existing on global market (InGaAs, HgCdTe and type- II superlattices), and the second one, the presented estimates provide further encouragement for achieving low-cost and high performance HgCdTe focal plane arrays operating in high-operating temperature conditions.

Infrared thermal imaging, using cooled and uncooled detectors, is continuously gaining attention because of its wide military and civilian applications. Futuristic requirements of high temperature operation, multispectral imaging, lower cost, higher resolution (using pixels) etc. are driving continuous developments in the field. Although there are good reviews in the literature by Rogalski [1–4], Martyniuk et al. [5] and Rogalski et al. [6] on various types of infrared detectors and technologies, this paper focuses on some of the important recent trends and diverse applications in this field and discusses some important fundamentals of these detectors.