Dark current reduction in microjunction-based double electron barrier type-II InAs/InAsSb superlattice...

Microjunction InAs/InAs_1-xSb_x type-II superlattice-based long-wavelength infrared photodetectors with reduced dark current density were demonstrated. A double electron barrier design was employed to reduce both bulk and surface dark currents. The photodetectors exhibited low surface leakage after passivation with SiO₂, allowing the use of very small size features without degradation of the dark current. Fabricating microjunction photodetectors (25 × 25 µm² diodes with 10 × 10 µm² microjunctions) in combination with the double electron barrier design results in a dark current density of 6.3 × 10^-6 A/cm² at 77 K. The device has an 8 µm cut-off wavelength at 77 K and exhibits a quantum efficiency of 31% for a 2 µm-thick absorption region, which results in a specific detectivity value of 1.2 × 10¹² cm·Hz^1/2/W.