Quantum dot photonic crystal detectors

In this paper we report the use of a photonic crystal resonant cavity to increase the quantum efficiency, detectivity (D*) and the background limited infrared photodetector (BLIP) temperature of a quantum dot detector. The photonic crystal is incorporated in InAs/InGaAs/GaAs dots-in-well (DWELL) detector using Electron beam lithography. From calibrated blackbody measurements, the conversion efficiency of the detector with the photonic crystal (DWELL-PC) is found to be 58.5% at -2.5 V while the control DWELL detectors have quantum efficiency of 7.6% at the same bias. We observed no significant reduction in the dark current of the photonic crystal devices compared to the normal structure. The generation-recombination limited D* at 77K with a 300K F1.7 background, is estimated to be 6 x 10^(10) cm Hz^(1/2)/W at -3V bias for the DWELL-PC which is a factor of 20 higher than that of the control sample. We also observed a 20% increase in the BLIP temperature for the DWELL-PCs