Low dark current long-wave infrared InAs/GaSb superlattice detectors

Surface leakage reduction has been achieved using BCl(3)/Cl(2)/CH(4)/H(2)/Ar inductively coupled plasma dry etching for pixel isolation of high performance long-wave infrared superlattice detectors. The leakage has been minimized by effectively increasing the surface resistivity by more than 7.4 times and decreasing the surface state density by more than 3.8 times. Through altering the etch mechanism, the dark current density was reduced by more than two orders of magnitude where a dark current of 1.01 x 10(-5) A/cm(2) at 200 mV was achieved at T=77 K for a 10.3 mu m detector with a peak quantum efficiency value of 30% (without antireflection coating). (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3476342]