ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Mater.
Sec. Semiconducting Materials and Devices
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmats.2025.1633165
This article is part of the Research TopicGrowth of Low Dimensional Materials and Their Applications in Energy, Gas-sensing and ElectronicsView all 3 articles
A comparative study on InGaAs/InAsSb and InAs/InAsSb strained layer superlattices
Provisionally accepted
- Kunming Institute of Physics, Kunming, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Over the past decade, InAs/InAsSb superlattices and their photodetectors were widely studied due to their potential applications in high performance infrared detectors. However, this InAs/InAsSb superlattice-based infrared detectors suffer from a serious limitation of deficient light absorption and corresponding low quantum efficiency(QE). Recently, InGaAs/InAsSb type II strained layer superlattices were reported to have the capability to enhance the absorption of infrared light. In this study, we present a detailed comparative analysis on the optical properties, electrical properties and detector performance of InGaAs/InAsSb and InAs/InAsSb strained layer superlattices. With introducing Ga into the InAs layers, the light absorption coefficient is observed to increase from 2247 cm -1 for InAs/InAsSb superlattices to 3442 cm -1 for InGaAs/InAsSb superlattices at the typical mid-wave infrared wavelength of 4.7 μm. However, this increase in light absorption coefficient does not boost the QE of the InGaAs/InAsSb superlattice detectors. Instead, quantum efficiency decreases from 45% for InAs/InAsSb superlattice detectors to 27% for InGaAs/InAsSb superlattice detectors at 150 K. This degradation in quantum efficiency for InGaAs/InAsSb superlattice detectors is found to be mainly caused by their poorer electrical properties e.g. electron mobility and minority carrier lifetime. Fundamentally, the poorer electrical properties and lower quantum efficiency of InGaAs/InAsSb superlattice detectors are mainly due to the higher defect density within the materials which are evidenced by the study of cross-sectional electron backscattered diffraction on these superlattices.
Keywords: photodetectors, Superlattices, InGaAs/InAsSb, InAs/InAsSb, defects
Received: 22 May 2025; Accepted: 23 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Yin, Wang, Zhang, Jiang, Chang, Deng, Zhou, Yang, Lei and Ji. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: R.B. Ji, Kunming Institute of Physics, Kunming, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.