Room temperature and high responsivity short wavelength II-VI quantum well infrared photodetector

We report the experimental demonstration of a room temperature, high responsivity, short wavelength II-VI Zn0.51Cd0.49Se/Zn0.29Cd0.26Mg0.45Se based quantum well infrared photodetector operating between 3 and 5 μm. Spectral response was observed up to room temperature with a cut off wavelength of 5 μm at 280 K. Measurements with a calibrated blackbody source yielded a peak responsivity of over 30 A/W at 280 K and an applied bias of −3 V. The dark current limited peak detectivity at 80 K and 280 K were measured to be 2 × 109 cm √Hz/W and 4 × 107 cm √Hz/W, respectively. These results are consistent with theoretical calculations that predict a maximum detectivity of the order of 107 cm √Hz/W at room temperature for typical carrier lifetimes and optimized doping levels.