L-3 Communications Cincinnati Electronics Corporation

L3 Cincinnati Electronics Corporation

David Forrai

Robert Jones

Michael J Garter

Darrel Endres

Yajun Wei

Steven C Allen

Mark Greiner

Richard L Rawe, Jr

Robert A Jones

Focal plane arrays and infrared detector device having a transparent common ground structure and methods of their fabrication are disclosed. In one embodiment, a front-side illuminated infrared detector device includes a contact layer and a detector structure adjacent to the contact layer. The detector structure is capable of absorbing radiation. The front-side illuminated infrared detector device further includes a common ground structure adjacent the detector structure, wherein the common ground structure is transmissive to radiation having a wavelength in a predetermined spectral band, and the common ground structure has a bandgap that is wider than a bandgap of the detector structure. The front-side illuminated infrared detector device further includes an optical layer adjacent the common ground structure.

Infrared detector devices and focal plane arrays having a transparent common ground structure and methods of fabricating the same

Frontside-illuminated barrier infrared photodetector devices and methods of fabrication are disclosed. In one embodiment, a frontside-illuminated barrier infrared photodetector includes a transparent carrier substrate, and a plurality of pixels. Each pixel of the plurality of pixels includes an absorber layer, a barrier layer on the absorber layer, a collector layer on the barrier layer, and a backside electrical contact coupled to the absorber layer. Each pixel has a frontside and a backside. The absorber layer and the barrier layer are non-continuous across the plurality of pixels, and the barrier layer of each pixel is closer to a scene than the absorber layer of each pixel. A plurality of frontside common electrical contacts is coupled to the frontside of the plurality of pixels, wherein the frontside of the plurality of pixels and the plurality of frontside common electrical contacts are bonded to the transparent carrier substrate.

Frontside-illuminated barrier infrared photodetector device and methods of fabricating the same

A method of fabricating a frontside-illuminated inverted quantum well infrared photodetector may include providing a quantum well wafer having a bulk substrate layer and a quantum material layer, wherein the quantum material layer includes a plurality of alternating quantum well layers and barrier layers epitaxially grown on the bulk substrate layer. The method further includes applying at least one frontside common electrical contact to a frontside of the quantum well wafer, bonding a transparent substrate to the frontside of the quantum well wafer, thinning the bulk substrate layer of the quantum well wafer, and etching the quantum material layer to form quantum well facets that define at least one pyramidal quantum well stack. A backside electrical contact may be applied to the pyramidal quantum well stack. In one embodiment, a plurality of quantum well stacks is bonded to a read-out integrated circuit of a focal plane array.

Frontside-illuminated inverted quantum well infrared photodetector devices

Frontside-illuminated inverted quantum well infrared photodetector devices and methods of fabricating the same

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Centerville, OH, United States of America

David Forrai