HOT mid-wave HgCdTe nBn and pBp infrared detectors

Narrow band gap photon infrared detectors require cryogenic cooling to suppress the noise deteriorating the performance. Among the competitive materials and theoretical predictions favouring type-II superlattices InAs/GaSb, HgCdTe has been still considered as the leader in terms of the fundamental physical parameters. The size, weight, power consumption and multispectral response of the infrared detection system play decisive role in fabrication of the higher operation temperature detectors. Several strategies have been implemented to improve the performance at elevated temperatures. The most efficient and used in HgCdTe technology are: non-equilibrium architectures and currently an idea of the barrier detectors. In this paper we present the comparison of the \(\hbox {nB}_\mathrm{n}\hbox {n}\) and \(\hbox {pB}_\mathrm{p}\hbox {p}\,(\hbox {B}_\mathrm{n}\) and \(\hbox {B}_\mathrm{p}\) stands for n/p-type doped barrier) HgCdTe photodetectors. \(\hbox {pB}_\mathrm{p}\hbox {p}\) architecture allows to reach higher performance (detectivity \({\sim }10^{9}\,\hbox {cm}\,\hbox {Hz}^{1/2}/\mathrm {W}\) for \(T = 200\) K) at mid-wave spectrum for wide range of absorber p-type doping \(2\times 10^{14}\rightarrow 10^{17}\,\hbox {cm}^{-3}\) and barrier Cd composition \(0.37\rightarrow 0.7\).