InAs/InAsSb Type-II Superlattice Mid-Wavelength Infrared Focal Plane Array With Significantly Higher Operating Temperature Than InSb

We report focal plane array (FPA) results on a mid-wavelength InAs/InAsSb type-II strained layer superlattice (T2SLS) unipolar barrier infrared detector with a cutoff wavelength of 5.4 mu m. For 300 K background in the 3-5-mu m band, f/2 aperture, an FPA operating at 150 K exhibits a mean noise equivalent differential temperature (NEDT) of 18.5 mK, and an NEDT operability of 99.7%. The NE Delta T distribution has a width of 8 mK, with no noticeable distribution tail, indicating excellent uniformity. The mean noise-equivalent irradiance is 9.1 x 10(11) photons/sec-cm(2). The mean quantum efficiency is 49.1% without antireflection coating, and the mean specific detectivity (D*) is 2.53 x 10(11) cm-Hz(1/2)/W. Benefitting from an absorber material with a much longer Shockley-Read-Hall minority carrier lifetime, and a device architecture that suppresses generation-recombination and surface-leakage dark current, the InAs/InAsSb T2SLS barrier infrared detector FPA has demonstrated a significantly higher operating temperature than the mid-wavelength infrared market-leading InSb.