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1 September 2017 Design and fabrication of resonator-quantum well infrared photodetector for SF6 gas sensor application
Jason Sun, Kwong-Kit Choi, Eric DeCuir Jr., Kimberley Olver, Richard Fu
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Journal of Micro/Nanolithography, MEMS, and MOEMS, Vol. 16, Issue 3, 034504 (September 2017). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JMM.16.3.034504
Abstract
The infrared absorption of SF6 gas is narrowband and peaks at 10.6  μm. This narrowband absorption posts a stringent requirement on the corresponding sensors as they need to collect enough signal from this limited spectral bandwidth to maintain a high sensitivity. Resonator-quantum well infrared photodetectors (R-QWIPs) are the next generation of QWIP detectors that use resonances to increase the quantum efficiency for more efficient signal collection. Since the resonant approach is applicable to narrowband as well as broadband, it is particularly suitable for this application. We designed and fabricated R-QWIPs for SF6 gas detection. To achieve the expected performance, the detector geometry must be produced according to precise specifications. In particular, the height of the diffractive elements and the thickness of the active resonator must be uniform, and accurately realized to within 0.05  μm. Additionally, the substrates of the detectors must be completely removed to prevent the escape of unabsorbed light in the detectors. To achieve these specifications, two optimized inductively coupled plasma etching processes were developed. Due to submicron detector feature sizes and overlay tolerance, we used an advanced semiconductor material lithography stepper instead of a contact mask aligner to pattern wafers. Using these etching techniques and tool, we have fabricated focal plane arrays with 30-μm pixel pitch and 320×256 format. The initial test revealed promising results.
CC BY: © The Authors. Published by SPIE under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License. Distribution or reproduction of this work in whole or in part requires full attribution of the original publication, including its DOI.
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Jason Sun, Kwong-Kit Choi, Eric DeCuir Jr., Kimberley Olver, and Richard Fu "Design and fabrication of resonator-quantum well infrared photodetector for SF6 gas sensor application," Journal of Micro/Nanolithography, MEMS, and MOEMS 16(3), 034504 (1 September 2017). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JMM.16.3.034504
Received: 21 March 2017; Accepted: 24 July 2017; Published: 1 September 2017
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Cited by 5 scholarly publications.
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KEYWORDS
Sensors
Etching
Quantum efficiency
Infrared radiation
Semiconducting wafers
Infrared photography
Photodetectors
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