INFRARED IMAGING USING QUANTUM-WELL PHOTODETECTORS

Modern epitaxial crystal growth techniques have given rise to new generations of device concepts that rely on the ability to engineer the electronic band structure of semiconductors on a nanometre scale. In this article we discuss progress on the application of such band structure engineering to the creation of a new type of infra-red detector, based on GaAs, which has promise for application to high performance thermal imaging.