Sensors 2012, 12(5), 6508-6519; doi:10.3390/s120506508
Article

Structure and Process of Infrared Hot Electron Transistor Arrays

Richard Fuemail
U.S. Army Research Laboratory, 2800 Powder Mill Road, Adelphi, MD 20783, USA
Received: 10 April 2012; in revised form: 9 May 2012 / Accepted: 14 May 2012 / Published: 16 May 2012
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ultra-Small Sensor Systems and Components)
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Abstract: An infrared hot-electron transistor (IHET) 5 × 8 array with a common base configuration that allows two-terminal readout integration was investigated and fabricated for the first time. The IHET structure provides a maximum factor of six in improvement in the photocurrent to dark current ratio compared to the basic quantum well infrared photodetector (QWIP), and hence it improved the array S/N ratio by the same factor. The study also showed for the first time that there is no electrical cross-talk among individual detectors, even though they share the same emitter and base contacts. Thus, the IHET structure is compatible with existing electronic readout circuits for photoconductors in producing sensitive focal plane arrays.
Keywords: quantum well infrared photodetector (QWIP); infrared hot-electron transistor (IHET); GaAs

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Cite This Article

MDPI and ACS Style

Fu, R. Structure and Process of Infrared Hot Electron Transistor Arrays. Sensors 2012, 12, 6508-6519.

AMA Style

Fu R. Structure and Process of Infrared Hot Electron Transistor Arrays. Sensors. 2012; 12(5):6508-6519.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Fu, Richard. 2012. "Structure and Process of Infrared Hot Electron Transistor Arrays." Sensors 12, no. 5: 6508-6519.

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