Anita M. Fisher

Influence of radiative and non-radiative recombination on the minority carrier lifetime in midwave infrared InAs/InAsSb superlattices

Optical modulation response is used to study the influence of radiative, Shockley-Read-Hall, and Auger recombination processes on the minority carrier lifetime in a mid-wave infrared InAs/InAsSb superlattice. A comparison of calculated and measured temperature dependencies shows that the lifetime is influenced mainly by radiative recombination at low temperatures, resulting in an increase of the minority carrier lifetime from 1.8 μs at 77 K to 2.8 μs at 200 K. At temperatures above 200 K, Auger recombination increases rapidly and limits the lifetime. Shockley-Read-Hall limited lifetimes on the order of 10 μs are predicted for superlattices with lower background doping concentration.

Room temperature performance of mid-wavelength infrared InAsSb nBn detectors

In this work, we investigate the high temperature performance of mid-wavelength infrared InAsSb-AlAsSb nBn detectors with cut-off wavelengths near 4.5 μm. The quantum efficiency of these devices is 35% without antireflection coatings and does not change with temperature in the 77–325 K temperature range, indicating potential for room temperature operation. The current generation of nBn detectors shows an increase of operational bias with temperature, which is attributed to a shift in the Fermi energy level in the absorber. Analysis of the device performance shows that operational bias and quantum efficiency of these detectors can be further improved. The device dark current stays diffusion limited in the 150 K–325 K temperature range and becomes dominated by generation-recombination processes at lower temperatures. Detector detectivities are D*(λ) = 1 × 109 (cm Hz0.5/W) at T = 300 K and D*(λ) = 5 × 109 (cm Hz0.5/W) at T = 250 K, which is easily achievable with a one stage TE cooler.

Minority carrier lifetime in mid-wavelength infrared InAs/InAsSb superlattices: Photon recycling and the role of radiative and Shockley-Read-Hall recombination mechanisms

The influence of radiative recombination on the minority carrier lifetime in mid-wavelength InAs/InAsSb superlattices was investigated. From the lifetimes dependence on temperature, photon recycling, and carrier concentration, it was demonstrated that radiative lifetime dominates for carrier concentrations >5 × 1014 cm−3, and Shockley-Read-Hall recombination starts to dominate the minority carrier lifetime for carrier concentrations <5 × 1014 cm−3. An observed increase of the minority carrier lifetime with increasing superlattice thickness was attributed to photon recycling, and good agreement between measured and theoretical values of the photon recycling factor was obtained.

Mid-wavelength infrared InAsSb/InSb nBn detector with extended cut-off wavelength

We extended the cut-off wavelength λc of bulk InAsSb nBn detectors to λc = 4.6 μm at T = 200 K by incorporating series of single InSb monolayer into InAsSb absorber. Detectors with 2 μm thick absorber showed a temperature independent quantum efficiency QEm ≈ 0.45 for back-side illumination without antireflection coating. The dark current density was jd = 5 × 10−6 A/cm2 at T = 150 K, and increased to jd = 2 × 10−3 A/cm2 at T = 200 K. At temperatures of T = 150 K and below, the demonstrated photodetectors operate in the background limited performance mode, with detectivity D*(λ) = 3–6 × 1011 cm Hz0.5/W for the background temperature of 300 K, and f/2 field of view.

Influence of proton radiation on the minority carrier lifetime in midwave infrared InAs/InAsSb superlattices

Influence of proton radiation on the minority carrier lifetime and on carrier concentrations in InAs/InAsSb superlattices has been studied for radiation doses up to 300 krad. The lifetime decreased from 1.8 μs down to 430 ns as the dose was increased. A variation of the carrier concentration in the range 1–2 × 1015 with increasing radiation dose was observed. The lifetime drop was however mainly caused by added Shockley-Read-Hall defects in the material. The position of these Shockley-Read-Hall centers was estimated to ∼60 meV below the conduction band edge from comparison between calculated and measured temperature dependencies of the minority carrier lifetime.

Proton radiation effect on performance of InAs/GaSb complementary barrier infrared detector

In this work, we investigated the effect of proton irradiation on the performance of long wavelength infrared InAs/GaSb photodiodes (λc = 10.2 μm), based on the complementary barrier infrared detector design. We found that irradiation with 68 MeV protons causes a significant increase of the dark current from jd = 5 × 10−5 A/cm2 to jd = 6 × 10−3 A/cm2, at Vb = 0.1 V, T = 80 K and fluence 19.2 × 1011 H+/cm2. Analysis of the dark current as a function of temperature and bias showed that the dominant contributor to the dark current in these devices changes from diffusion current to tunneling current after proton irradiation. This change in the dark current mechanism can be attributed to the onset of surface leakage current, generated by trap-assisted tunneling processes in proton displacement damage areas located near the device sidewalls.

High operating temperature nBn detector with monolithically integrated microlens

We demonstrate an InAsSb nBn detector monolithically integrated with a microlens fabricated on the back side of the detector. The increase in the optical collection area of the detector resulted in a five-fold enhancement of the responsivity to Rp = 5.5 A/W. The responsivity increases further to Rp = 8.5 A/W with an antireflection coating. These 4.5 μm cut-off wavelength antireflection coated detectors with microlenses exhibited a detectivity of D* (λ) = 2.7 × 1010 cmHz0.5/W at T = 250 K, which can be reached easily with a single-stage thermoelectric cooler or with a passive radiator in the space environment. This represents a 25 K increase in the operating temperature of these devices compared to the uncoated detectors without an integrated microlens.

Mid-wavelength high operating temperature barrier infrared detector and focal plane array

We analyze and compare different aspects of InAs/InAsSb and InAs/GaSb type-II superlattices for infrared detector applications and argue that the former is the most effective when implemented for mid-wavelength infrared detectors. We then report results on an InAs/InAsSb superlattice based mid-wavelength high operating temperature barrier infrared detector. At 150 K, the 50% cutoff wavelength is 5.37 μm, the quantum efficiency at 4.5 μm is ∼52% without anti-reflection coating, the dark current density under −0.2 V bias is 4.5 × 10−5 A/cm2, and the dark-current-limited and the f/2 black-body (300 K background in 3–5 μm band) specific detectivities are 4.6 × 1011 and 3.0 × 1011 cm-Hz1/2/W, respectively. A focal plane array made from the same material exhibits a mean noise equivalent differential temperature of 18.7 mK at 160 K operating temperature with an f/2 optics and a 300 K background, demonstrating significantly higher operating temperature than InSb.

A microfluidic sub-critical water extraction instrument

This article discusses a microfluidic subcritical water extraction (SCWE) chip for autonomous extraction of amino acids from astrobiologically interesting samples. The microfluidic instrument is composed of three major components. These include a mixing chamber where the soil sample is mixed and agitated with the solvent (water), a subcritical water extraction chamber where the sample is sealed with a freeze valve at the chip inlet after a vapor bubble is injected into the inlet channels to ensure the pressure in the chip is in equilibrium with the vapor pressure and the slurry is then heated to ≤200 °C in the SCWE chamber, and a filter or settling chamber where the slurry is pumped to after extraction. The extraction yield of the microfluidic SCWE chip process ranged from 50% compared to acid hydrolysis and 80%-100% compared to a benchtop microwave SCWE for low biomass samples.

Subcritical water extraction of amino acids from Mars analog soils

For decades, the Martian regolith has stymied robotic mission efforts to catalog the organic molecules present. Perchlorate salts, found widely throughout Mars, are the main culprit as they breakdown and react with organics liberated from the regolith during pyrolysis, the primary extraction technique attempted to date on Mars. This work further develops subcritical water extraction (SCWE) as a technique for extraction of amino acids on future missions. The effect of SCWE temperature (185, 200, and 215°C) and duration of extraction (10–120 min) on the total amount and distribution of amino acids recovered was explored for three Mars analog soils (JSC Mars‐1A simulant, an Atacama desert soil, and an Antarctic Dry Valleys soil) and bovine serum albumin (as a control solution of known amino acid content). Total amounts of amino acids extracted increased with both time and temperature; however, the distribution shifted notably due to the destruction of the amino acids with charged or polar side chains at the higher temperatures. The pure bovine serum albumin solution and JSC Mars 1A also showed lower yields than the Atacama and Antarctic extractions suggesting that SCWE may be less effective at hydrolyzing large or aggregated proteins. Changing solvent from water to a dilute (10 mM) HCl solution allowed total extraction efficiencies comparable to the higher temperature/time combinations while using the lowest temperature/time (185°C/20 min). The dilute HCl extractions also did not lead to the shift in amino acid distribution observed at the higher temperatures. Additionally, adding sodium perchlorate salt to the extraction did not interfere with recoveries. Native magnetite in the JSC Mars‐1A may have been responsible for destruction of glycine, as evidenced by its uncharacteristic decrease as the temperature/time of extraction increased. This work shows that SCWE can extract high yields of native amino acids out of Mars analog soils with minimal disruption of the distribution of those amino acids, even in the presence of a perchlorate salt.