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Design of a high-sensitivity extended mid-wave infrared InAsSb-based nBn photodetector by utilizing barrier band engineering technique: an outstanding device for biosensing applications

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Abstract

In the InAsSb-based barrier infrared photodetector, the unwanted valence band offset penalizes minority carrier transport in these devices, increasing dark current density. We report a new back-side illuminated InAsSb-based nBn photodetector using an InAsSb (xSb = 0.19) absorber layer and InAlSb/AlAsSb core/shell compound barrier with a 50% cut-off wavelength of more than 5 µm at room temperature for the first time. The barrier band engineering is performed by employing the core/shell heterostructure compound barrier can reduce the valence band offset and bring it to near zero. For this reason, in the proposed device, by suppressing the dark current components, especially the Shockley–Read–Hall (SRH) mechanism, the dark current density is significantly reduced, and the optical response of the device is also dramatically increased. At 300 K, the dark current density of this photodetector reaches 8.124 × 10−5 A/cm2 at  − 0.5 V. Furthermore, we evaluate the optical sensitivity of the device for responding to the detection of Hela cancer cells at the wavelengths of 3.6 µm, 4.1 µm, and 5 µm, which are the essential wavelengths for the diagnosis of these cancer cells. Based on the simulation results, the spectral response peak occurs at a wavelength of 5 µm. The figure of merits, such as current responsivity (Rλ), external quantum efficiency (EQE), specific detectivity (D*), noise equivalent power (NEP), and linear optical dynamic range (LODR), are 2.29 A/W, 57%, 3.386 × 1010 cmHz1/2/W, 8.858 × 10−13 W/Hz1/2, and 73.76 dB, respectively at 5 µm under  − 0.5 V bias. In fact, the simulation results confirm that the proposed photodetector can be a device with high potential for modern infrared systems.

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Data and materials availability

The datasets generated during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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  1. Aerospace Research Institute (Ministry of Science, Research and Technology), Tehran, Iran

    Maryam Shaveisi & Peiman Aliparast

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  1. Maryam Shaveisi
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All authors contributed to the study's conception and design. All authors performed data collection, simulation, and result analysis. Maryam Shaveisi wrote the first draft of the manuscript, and all authors commented on the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Maryam Shaveisi.

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Shaveisi, M., Aliparast, P. Design of a high-sensitivity extended mid-wave infrared InAsSb-based nBn photodetector by utilizing barrier band engineering technique: an outstanding device for biosensing applications. Opt Quant Electron 55, 848 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11082-023-05013-2

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