Characteristics of an Indium Asenide-based nBn photodetectors grown by molecular beam epitaxy

The nBn photodetector design specifies an n-type absorption layer, a Barrier layer to majority carrier electrons, and an n-type contact layer. The absence of a depletion layer in the lattice-matched nBn photodetector results in substantially reduced levels of Shockley-Read-Hall (SRH) generation current as compared with the competing p-n junction photodiode. The nBn photodetector also suppresses surface leakage current, which is prevalent in cooled, narrow bandgap semiconductor p-n junction photodiodes. Barrier layers consisting of AlAsxSb1-x are used in these InAs-based nBn photodetectors. A zero valance band energy offset exists between the InAs and AlAsxSb1-x layers for a composition in the range 0.14 < x < 0.17, while a composition of x = 0.16 lattice matches InAs. Conduction band energy offsets much greater than kT exist between InAs and all compositions of AlAsxSb1-x, and barrier layers thicker than 100 Angstroms are predicted to attenuate current arising from electron tunnelling to negligible levels. A lattice-matched InAs-based nBn photodetector achieves background limited photodetection (BLIP) operation at 200 K, while surface leakage current prevents two examples of InAs-based photodiodes from achieving BLIP operation. At a temperature of 140 K, this InAs-based nBn photodetector has a measured dark current lower by over 6 orders of magnitude than that of the commercial InAs-based photodiode and 4 orders of magnitude lower than that of an InAs-based photodiode fabricated by the author. Measurements indicate InAs-based nBn photodetectors grown with lattice-mismatched absorption layers have higher dislocation densities and that SRH current is the primary contributor to the dark current. The BLIP temperatures of two nBn photodetectors with InAs absorption layers grown on GaAs substrates are 150 and 160 K. The BLIP temperature of an nBn photodetector with an InAs0.95Sb0.05 absorption layer grown on an InAs substrate is 185 K. Accurate calculation of the thermal activation energy of an nBn photodetector requires knowledge of the temperature-dependent lateral diffusion length of holes in the absorption layer. Measured lateral diffusion lengths in InAs absorption layers grown on GaAs are 10 microns or less and approximately temperature invariant over 171 < T < 308 K, while they vary from 10 to 29 microns in an InAsSb absorption layer grown on InAs. They vary from 34 microns at 308 K to 166 microns at 171 K for an InAs absorption layer grown on an InAs.