The etching and passivation processes of very long wavelength infrared(VLWIR)detector based on the InAs/GaSb/AlSb type-II superlattice have been studied.By studying the effect of each component in the citric acid solution(citric acid,phosphoric acid,hydrogen peroxide,deionized water),the best solution ratio is obtained.After comparing different passivation materials such as sulfide+SiO_(2),Al_(2)O_(3),Si_(3)N_(4) and SU8,it is found that SU8 passivation can reduce the dark current of the device to a greater degree.Combining this wet etching and SU8 passivation,the of VLWIR detector with a mesa diameter of 500μm is about 3.6Ω·cm^(2) at 77 K.
We present the fabrication of a mid-wavelength infrared focal plane array （FPA） based on type-II InAs/GaSb strain layer superlattices （SLs）. The detectors contain a 400-period 8 ML InAs/8 ML GaSb SL active layer, which is grown by solid source molecular beam epitaxy on GaSb （100） N type substrates. Lattice mismatch between the superlattices and GaSb substrate achieves 148.9 ppm. The full width at half maximum of the first or- der satellite peak from X-ray diffraction was 28 arcsec. Single element detectors and FPA with a 128 x 128 pixels were fabricated using citric acid based solution wet chemical etching. Chemical and physical passivation effectively reduces the surface leakage and this process was characterized by I-V measurement. The devices showed a 50% cut-off wavelength of 4.73 μm at 77 K. The photodiode exhibited an RoA of 103 f2. cm2. The FPA was characterized with an integration time of 0.5 ms and F/2.0 optics at 77 K and the average blackbody detectivity of the detectors is 2.01 × 10^9 cm.Hz^1/2/W.
By optimizing theⅤ/Ⅲbeam-equivalent pressure ratio,a high-quality InAs/GaSb type-Ⅱsuperlattice material for the long-wavelength infrared(LWIR)range is achieved by molecular beam epitaxy(MBE).High-resolution x-ray diffraction(HRXRD),atomic force microscopy(AFM),and Fourier transform infrared(FTIR)spectrometer are used to characterize the material growth quality.The results show that the full width at half maximum(FWHM)of the superlattice zero-order diffraction peak,the mismatching of the superlattice zero-order diffraction peak between the substrate diffraction peaks,and the surface roughness get the best results when the beam-equivalent pressure(BEP)ratio reaches the optimal value,which are 28 arcsec,13 arcsec,and 1.63?,respectively.The intensity of the zero-order diffraction peak is strongest at the optimal value.The relative spectral response of the LWIR detector shows that it exhibits a 100%cut-off wavelength of 12.6μm at 77 K.High-quality epitaxial materials have laid a good foundation for preparing high-performance LWIR detector.
We report a type-I Ga Sb-based laterally coupled distributed-feedback（LC-DFB） laser with shallow-etched gratings operating a continuous wave at room temperature without re-growth process. Second-order Bragg gratings are fabricated alongside the ridge waveguide by interference lithography. Index-coupled LC-DFB laser with a cavity of 1500 μm achieves single longitudinal mode continuous-wave operation at 20℃ with side mode suppression ratio（SMSR） as high as 24 dB.The maximum single mode continuous-wave output power is about 10 mW at room temperature（uncoated facet）. A low threshold current density of 230 A/cm^2 is achieved with differential quantum efficiency estimated to be 93 mW/A. The laser shows a good wavelength stability against drive current and working temperature.
In this paper we focused on the mask technology of inductively coupled plasma（ICP） etching for the mesa fabrication of infrared focal plane arrays（FPA）.By using the SiO_2 mask,the mesa has higher graphics transfer accuracy and creates less micro-ripples in sidewalls.Comparing the IV characterization of detectors by using two different masks,the detector using the SiO_2 hard mask has the R_0A of 9.7×10~6 Ω·cm^2,while the detector using the photoresist mask has the R_0A of3.2 × 10~2 Ω·cm^2 in 77 K.After that we focused on the method of removing the remaining SiO_2 after mesa etching.The dry ICP etching and chemical buffer oxide etcher（BOE） based on HF and NH4 F are used in this part.Detectors using BOE only have closer R_0A to that using the combining method,but it leads to gaps on mesas because of the corrosion on AlSb layer by BOE.We finally choose the combining method and fabricated the 640×512 FPA.The FPA with cutoff wavelength of 4.8 μm has the average R_0A of 6.13 × 10~9 Ω·cm^2 and the average detectivity of 4.51 × 10~9 cm·Hz^（1/2）.W^（-1）at 77 K.The FPA has good uniformity with the bad dots rate of 1.21%and the noise equivalent temperature difference（NEDT） of 22.9 mK operating at 77 K.
