Negative luminescence from In1−xAlxSb and CdxHg1−xTe diodes

MCT infrafed detectors with close to radiatively limited performance at 240 K in the 3–5 µm band

“…This reduction of the photon emission below that required for thermal equilibrium is known as negative luminescence. 11,12 As the diffusion length is very much longer than the active layer thickness, emission will be switched off from all of the active layer. It follows from the above that it should be possible to reduce the radiative current by reverse biasing the neighboring devices.…”

Midwave-infrared negative luminescence properties of HgCdTe devices on silicon substrates

“…This may be attributed to the suppression of Auger recombination when carriers are swept out of the active region. 9 The NL measurements were obtained under the reverse-bias saturation condition, which corresponds to a saturated current density (j sat ) of only ≈1.3 A/cm 2 at T = 295 K. Since the I-V characteristics were extremely sensitive to temperature, the saturation current was monitored as a means of tracking the thermal stability. This procedure showed that even at room temperature, where the current requirements are greatest, the heating due to the bias was ≤0.1 K.…”

“…Recent work has demonstrated that NL devices may provide a viable option in such applications as the cold shielding of cooled and uncooled focal plane arrays (FPAs), multiple-point nonuniformity corrections for FPA dynamic references, sources for IR spectroscopy, and IR scene projection. 6,7 Negative luminescence has been observed in a number of IR detector and light-emitting diode (LED) materials in the spectral region beyond 4 m, including InSb, 5,8 InSb/InAlSb heterostructures, 9 InAsSb, 10,11 InAs/InAsSb superlattices, 12,13 type-II InAs/GaSb superlattices, 14 We have investigated the negative luminescence properties of a midwaveinfrared (MWIR) HgCdTe photodiode ( co = 5.3 m at 295 K) grown on a silicon substrate. The internal negative luminescence efficiencies measured using a self-referencing optical technique were 88% throughout the 3-5 m spectral region and nearly independent of temperature in the 240-300 K range.…”

A 5 mm×5 mm mid-wavelength infrared HgCdTe photodiode array with negative luminescence efficiency ∼95%

“…The current-voltage characteristics of the 5-mm device (all fingers connected in parallel) at room temperature are shown in Fig 2. Note the negative differential-resistance overshoot in reverse bias that occurs because Auger recombination is suppressed when the carriers are swept out of the active region. 5 The saturation-current density from Fig. 2 is only 0.11 A/cm 2 ; reasons for the higher than expected required bias of ϳ4 V are still under investigation.…”

“…Potential applications include the cold shielding of cooled and uncooled, large-format, focal plane arrays (FPAs), multiple-point nonuniformity corrections for FPA dynamic references, sources for IR spectroscopy, and IR scene projection. 1,2 Although the NL phenomenon has been investigated for several decades (predominantly in the 3-5-µm mid-IR spectral range), [3][4][5][6][7] early devices were small and inefficient (weak suppression of emission) and required high drive powers (high saturationcurrent densities, j sat ). However, several recent studies have demonstrated substantial progress toward the development of a practical NL technology.…”