CORRUGATED-QUANTUM WELL INFRARED PHOTODETECTOR WITH REFLECTIVE SIDEWALL AND METHOD

摘要

A quantum well infrared photodetector comprising a tunable voltage source; first and second contacts operatively connected to the tunable voltage source; a substantially-transparent substrate adapted to admit light; first and second layers operatively connected to the first and second contacts; a quantum well layer positioned between the first and second layers; light admitted through the substantially transparent substrate entering at least one of the first and second layers and passing through the quantum well layer; at least one side wall adjacent to at least one of the first and second layers and the quantum well layer; the at least one side wall being substantially non-parallel to the incident light; the at least one sidewall comprising reflective layer which reflects light into the quantum well layer for absorption. A preferred method for improving the reflectivity of a quantum well infrared photodetector comprises forming a first sidewall layer on the sidewalls of the corrugated quantum well infrared photodetector; forming a second sidewall layer on the sidewalls of the corrugated quantum well infrared photodetector; the second sidewall layer being formed of a reflective material and the first sidewall layer operating to electrically isolate the reflective material from at least one of the first and second contact layers; whereby the reflective metal operates to reflect light rays into corrugated quantum well infrared photodetector device and to substantially prevent infrared rays in environment from entering through the sidewalls.