Infrared Detectors - New Trends
J. Piotrowski
VIGO SYSTEM Ltd, Hery 23, 01-493 Warszawa, P.O.B. 45, Poland
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Recent trends in infrared detectors are towards large, electronically ad­dressed two-dimensional arrays and higher operating temperature. This will lead both to higher performance and to smaller, lighter and more afford­able IR systems. Cooling requirements are the main obstacle to the more widespread use of infrared systems based on semiconductor photodetectors, particularly in the civil field. Fundamental limitations to performance of IR photodetectors are due to the statistical nature of generation-recombination processes and resulting noise. Ways to overcome the limitations are discussed including use of the optical immersion and optical resonant cavity. Finally, the progress in a mode of operation is presented, in which the thermal gen­eration of carriers is suppressed by the use of stationary depletion of narrow gap semiconductors. The practical near room temperature narrow gap semi­conductor photodetectors are reported. Competitive technologies based on Schottky barrier devices and low dimensional solids are considered briefly.
DOI: 10.12693/APhysPolA.87.303
PACS numbers: 78.30.-j