Ambient-temperature operation of nonequilibrium magnetoconcentration infrared detectors in InSb and HgCdTe

Abstract

We present a theoretical and experimental consideration of magnetoconcentration-based long-wavelength infrared photodetectors with nonequilibrium Auger-process suppression, designed for room-temperature operation. Our analysis includes the design, modeling and optimization of the detectors, their experimental fabrication and characterization. We used two narrow-bandgap direct semiconductors for our devices, indium antimonide (InSb) and mercury cadmium telluride (HgCdTe). We investigated all of the main properties of our detectors, including current-voltage characteristics, sensitivity, spectral noise, specific detectivity (D*) and response time. In our calculations we used our generalized expression for the absorption coefficient of HgCdTe that takes into account the influence of non-quantizing magnetic fields. Our experiments included more than a hundred magnetoconcentration devices. Thermal noise was decreased, specific detectivity increased and overall performance improved in most of our photodetectors.