Quasi-planar InGaAsSb p-B-n photodiodes for spectroscopic sensing

An InGaAsSb p-B-n structure has been designed and characterized for zero bias low power detection applications. Devices were grown by molecular beam epitaxy and fabricated into quasi-planar photodiodes with a 2.25 µm cut-off wavelength. Maximum responsivity was measured to be 1.05 A/W at 2.0 µm, achieved at zero bias. D* of 9.4 × 1010 Jones was determined from room temperature spectra of noise power measurements with calculated D* remaining >1 × 1010 Jones up to 380 K. With a view to simple miniaturized detection and measurement of low concentration biomarkers, optical powers down to 40 pW were detected, without temperature stabilization or phase-sensitive detection, indicating the photodiode's potential.