We report on fabrication and characterization of infrared detectors made of a composite material—PbTe/CdTe multilayer (ML). The multilayer consists of 10 repetitions of 35 nm thick PbTe layers and 75 nm thick CdTe layers grown by molecular beam epitaxy on GaAs (100) semi-insulating substrates. Simple technological methods were used to manufacture photoresistors from the structure containing the PbTe/CdTe composite. The front-side illuminated photodetectors show a cut-off wavelength of 3.57 μm and a peak current responsivity of 127 mA/W at a bias voltage of 10 V, a frequency of 730 Hz, and a temperature of 300 K. The specific detectivity of photoresistors at the peak wavelength of 2.9 μm equals 2.7 × 1010 cm·Hz1/2/W and 6.1 × 109 cm·Hz1/2/W for 77 and 300 K, respectively. Although the ML photoresistors were not optimized, neither antireflection coated nor lithographically defined, their detectivity, especially at room temperature, is highly comparable to that of photoconducting infrared detectors available in the market. Possible mechanisms causing the relatively high performance of PbTe/CdTe ML detectors have been discussed in detail. These are a decrease in the electron concentration in the conducting PbTe layers caused by capturing some mobile electrons by dangling bonds present at the PbTe/CdTe interfaces and the effective suppression of the Auger recombination in nanostructures made of narrow and wide bandgap semiconductors.

1.
A.
Rogalski
,
Prog. Quantum Electron.
27
,
59
210
(
2003
).
2.
A.
Rogalski
,
Infrared Phys. Technol.
54
,
136
154
(
2011
).
3.
A.
Rogalski
,
Infrared Detectors
, 2nd ed. (
CRC Press
,
2010
).
4.
A.
Rogalski
,
Infrared and Terahertz Detectors
(
CRC Press
,
2019
).
5.
G. W.
Charache
,
P. F.
Baldasaro
,
L. R.
Danielson
,
D. M.
DePoy
,
M. J.
Freeman
,
C. A.
Wang
,
H. K.
Choi
,
D. Z.
Garbuzov
,
R. U.
Martinelli
,
V.
Khalfin
,
S.
Saroop
,
J. M.
Borrego
, and
R. J.
Gutmann
,
J. Appl. Phys.
85
,
2247
2252
(
1999
).
6.
R. T.
Williams
,
J. Q.
Grim
,
Q.
Li
,
K. B.
Ucer
,
G. A.
Bizarri
, and
A.
Burger
, in
Excitonic and Photonic Processes in Materials
, edited by
J.
Singh
and
R. T.
Williams
(
Springer
,
Singapore
,
2015
), pp.
299
358
.
7.
J. R.
Meyer
,
C. L.
Felix
,
W. W.
Bewley
,
I.
Vurgaftman
,
E. H.
Aifer
,
L. J.
Olafsen
,
J. R.
Lindle
,
C. A.
Hoffman
,
M. J.
Yang
,
B. R.
Bennett
,
B. V.
Shanabrook
,
H.
Lee
,
C. H.
Lin
,
S. S.
Pei
, and
R. H.
Miles
,
Appl. Phys. Lett.
73
,
2857
2857
(
1998
).
8.
I.
Vurgaftman
,
J. R.
Meyer
,
J. M.
Dell
,
T. A.
Fisher
, and
L.
Faraone
,
J. Appl. Phys.
83
,
4286
4286
(
1998
).
9.
Y.
Jiang
,
M. C.
Teich
, and
W. I.
Wang
,
J. Appl. Phys.
69
,
6869
6875
(
1991
).
10.
B. B.
Weng
,
J. J.
Qiu
,
L. H.
Zhao
,
C.
Chang
, and
Z. S.
Shi
,
Appl. Phys. Lett.
104
,
121111
(
2014
).
11.
S.
Chusnutdinow
,
M.
Szot
,
T.
Wojtowicz
, and
G.
Karczewski
,
AIP Adv.
7
,
035111
(
2017
).
12.
W.
Heiss
,
H.
Groiss
,
E.
Kaufmann
,
G.
Hesser
,
M.
Booberl
,
G.
Springholz
,
F.
Schaffler
,
K.
Koike
,
H.
Harada
, and
M.
Yano
,
Appl. Phys. Lett.
88
,
192109
(
2006
).
13.
R.
Leitsmann
,
L. E.
Ramos
, and
F.
Bechstedt
,
Phys. Rev. B
74
,
085309
(
2006
).
14.
K.
Koike
,
T.
Honden
,
I.
Makabe
,
F. P.
Yan
, and
M.
Yano
,
J. Cryst. Growth
257
,
212
217
(
2003
).
15.
H.
Groiss
,
E.
Kaufmann
,
G.
Springholz
,
T.
Schwarzl
,
G.
Hesser
,
F.
Schaffler
,
W.
Heiss
,
K.
Koike
,
T.
Itakura
,
T.
Hotei
,
M.
Yano
, and
T.
Wojtowicz
,
Appl. Phys. Lett.
91
,
222106
(
2007
).
16.
T.
Schwarzl
,
E.
Kaufmann
,
G.
Springholz
,
K.
Koike
,
T.
Hotei
,
M.
Yano
, and
W.
Heiss
,
Phys. Rev. B
78
,
165320
(
2008
).
17.
R.
Leitsmann
and
F.
Bechstedt
,
Phys. Rev. B
80
,
165402
(
2009
).
18.
M.
Szot
,
K.
Dybko
,
P.
Dziawa
,
L.
Kowalczyk
,
E.
Smajek
,
V.
Domukhovski
,
B.
Taliashvili
,
P.
Dluzewski
,
A.
Reszka
,
B. J.
Kowalski
,
M.
Wiater
,
T.
Wojtowicz
, and
T.
Story
,
Cryst. Growth Des.
11
,
4794
4801
(
2011
).
19.
Y. Z.
Pei
,
A. D.
LaLonde
,
N. A.
Heinz
, and
G. J.
Snyder
,
Adv. Energy Mater.
2
,
670
675
(
2012
).
20.
G.
Karczewski
,
M.
Szot
,
S.
Kret
,
L.
Kowalczyk
,
S.
Chusnutdinow
,
T.
Wojtowicz
,
S.
Schreyeck
,
K.
Brunner
,
C.
Schumacher
, and
L. W.
Molenkamp
,
Nanotechnology
26
,
135601
(
2015
).
21.
M.
Mińkowski
,
M. A.
Załuska-Kotur
,
Ł. A.
Turski
, and
G.
Karczewski
,
J. Appl. Phys.
120
,
124305
(
2016
).
22.
M.
Mińkowski
,
M. A.
Załuska-Kotur
,
S.
Kret
,
S.
Chusnutdinow
,
S.
Schreyeck
,
K.
Brunner
,
L. W.
Molenkamp
, and
G.
Karczewski
,
J. Alloys Compd.
747
,
809
814
(
2018
).
23.
J.
Si
,
S.
Jin
,
H.
Zhang
,
P.
Zhu
,
D.
Qiu
, and
H.
Wu
,
Appl. Phys. Lett.
93
,
202101
(
2008
).
24.
A.
Hochreiner
,
T.
Schwarzl
,
M.
Eibelhuber
,
W.
Heiss
,
G.
Springholz
,
V.
Kolkovsky
,
G.
Karczewski
, and
T.
Wojtowicz
,
Appl. Phys. Lett.
98
,
021106
(
2011
).
25.
K.
Lischka
,
Appl. Phys. A
29
,
177
189
(
1982
).
26.
See www.vigo.com.pl for information about PC-4 CdHgTe photoconductive detectors.
27.
See www.hamamatsu.com/eu/en/product/type/P6606-310/index.html for information about InSb detectors.
You do not currently have access to this content.