Enhanced normal-incident absorption of quantum-dot infrared photodetectors with smaller quantum dots

Abstract

Ten-period InAs-GaAs quantum-dot (QD) infrared photodetectors grown under different In adatom supply procedures are investigated. Two In adatom supply procedures of In shutter 1) always opened and 2) periodically opened/closed are adopted in this letter. Larger QD sizes in both height and diameter and more uniform size distribution are observed for samples grown under an In shutter periodically opened/closed condition. The device with QDs grown under the In shutter always opened condition has revealed shorter detection wavelengths and enhanced normal incident absorption. The phenomenon shows that beside the increase of energy difference between confinement states, smaller QD sizes would also enhance the normal incident absorption predicted for the theoretically zero-dimensional QD structures.