Abstract

Long wavelength (8-10 µm) quantum well infrared photodetectors (QWIPs) based on intersubband transitions in n-doped AlGaAs/GaAs quantum wells (QW) are known to exhibit high detectivities D^* = I 10¹⁰ -9-10¹⁰ cm Hz^1/2 W¹. Due to the well established GaAs material and processing technology QWIPs are viable candidates for high resolution (>128x128 pixels), low cost LWIR (8-12 µm) focal plane arrays (FPAs). Excellent wafer uniformities giving responsivity uniformities of 2-4 % across an array have been demonstrated and a temperature resolution NETD (noise equivalent temperature difference) = 20 mK is achieved . In the discussion below n-doped AlGaAs/GaAs QWIPs are assumed since, at least to date, these have been shown to provide the highest performance.

© 1996 IEEE