Structure and Process of Infrared Hot Electron Transistor？Arrays 英文参考文献.docVIP

Sensors 2012, 12, 6508-6519; doi:10.3390/s120506508 OPEN ACCESS sensors ISSN 1424-8220 /journal/sensors Article Structure and Process of Infrared Hot Electron Transistor Arrays Richard Fu U.S. Army Research Laboratory, 2800 Powder Mill Road, Adelphi, MD 20783, USA; E-Mail: richard.x.fu.civ@; Tel.: +1-301-394-1473; Fax: +1-301-394-0310 Received: 10 April 2012; in revised form: 9 May 2012 / Accepted: 14 May 2012 / Published: 16 May 2012 Abstract: An infrared hot-electron transistor (IHET) 5 × 8 array with a common base configuration that allows two-terminal readout integration was investigated and fabricated for the first time. The IHET structure provides a maximum factor of six in improvement in the photocurrent to dark current ratio compared to the basic quantum well infrared photodetector (QWIP), and hence it improved the array S/N ratio by the same factor. The study also showed for the first time that there is no electrical cross-talk among individual detectors, even though they share the same emitter and base contacts. Thus, the IHET structure is compatible with existing electronic readout circuits for photoconductors in producing sensitive focal plane arrays. Keywords: quantum well infrared photodetector (QWIP); infrared hot-electron transistor (IHET); GaAs 1. Introduction There is an urgent need for affordable, sensitive and high resolution long wavelength (λ ~ 10μm) infrared focal plane arrays (LWIR FPAs) for large area persistent surveillance. A LWIR camera with resolution of one million pixels (MP) or more is required [1]. The conventional LWIR FPAs are expensive and the resolution is limited to 0.3 MP. Quantum well infrared photodetector (QWIP) FPAs are less expensive and potentially offer higher resolutions. We recently demonstrated several 1 MP corrugated-QWIP LWIR FPA cameras, which show great promise for this application [2]. To further improve the technology, it