The physics and technology of the heterojunction infrared photodetectors having different material systems have been studied extensively. Devices used in this study have been characterized by using mainly optical methods, and electrical measurements have been used as an auxiliary method. The theory of internal photoemission in semiconductor heterojunctions has been investigated and the existing model has been extended by incorporating the effects of the difference in the effective masses in the active region and the substrate, nonspherical-nonparabolic bands, and the energy loss per collisions. The barrier heights (correspondingly the cut-off wavelengths) of SiGe/Si samples have been found from their internal photoemission spectrums by using the complete model which has the wavelength and doping concentration dependent free carrier absorption parameters. A qualitative model describing the mechanisms of photocurrent generation in SiGe/Si HIP devices has been presented. It has been shown that the performance of our devices depends significantly on the applied bias and the operating temperature. Properties of internal photoemission in a PtSi/Si Schottky type infrared detector have also been studied. InGaAs/InP quantum well photodetectors that covers both near and mid-infrared spectral regions by means of interband and intersubband transitions have been studied. To understand the high responsivity values observed at high biases, the gain and avalanche multiplication processes have been investigated. Finally, the results of a detailed characterization study on a systematic set of InAs/GaAs self-assembled quantum dot infrared photodetectors have been presented. A simple physical picture has also been discussed to account for the main observed features.

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In this work, homojunction interfacial workfunction internal photoemission (HIWIP) detectors based on GaAs, and heterojunction interfacial workfunction internal photoemission (HEIWIP) detectors based mainly on the Gallium Arsenide/Aluminum Gallium Arsenide material system are presented. Design principles of HIWIP and HEIWIP detectors, such as free carrier absorption, photocarrier generation, photoemission, and responsivity, are discussed in detail. Results of p-type HIWIPs based on GaAs material are presented. Homojunction detectors based on p-type GaAs were found to limit their operating wavelength range. This is mainly due to band depletion arising through carrier transitions from the heavy/light hole bands to the split off band. Designing n-type GaAs HIWIP detectors is difficult as it is strenuous to control their workfunction. Heterojunction detectors based on Gallium Arsenide/Aluminum Gallium Arsenide material system will allow tuning their threshold wavelength by adjusting the alloy composition of the Aluminum Gallium Arsenide/Gallium Arsenide barrier, while keeping a fixed doping density in the emitter. The detectors covered in this work operate from 1 to 128 micron (300 to 2.3 THz). Enhancement of detector response using resonance cavity architecture is demonstrated. Threshold wavelength extension of HEIWIPs by varying the Al composition of the barrier was investigated. The threshold limit of approximately 3.3 THz (92 micron), due to a practical Al fraction limit of approximately 0.005, can be overcome by replacing GaAs emitters in Gallium Arsenide/Aluminum Gallium Arsenide HEIWIPs with Aluminum Gallium Arsenide/Gallium Arsenide emitters. As the initial step, terahertz absorption for 1 micron-thick Be-doped Aluminum Gallium Arsenide epilayers (with different Al fraction and doping density) grown on GaAs substrates was measured. The absorption probability of the epilayers was derived from these absorption measurements. Based on the terahertz absorption results, an Aluminum Gallium Arsenide/Gallium Arsenide HEIWIP detector was designed and the extension of threshold frequency (f0) to 2.3 THz was successfully demonstrated. In a different study, switching in Gallium Arsenide/Aluminum Gallium Arsenide heterostructures from a tunneling dominated low conductance branch to a thermal emission dominated high conductance branch was investigated. This bistability leads to neuron-like voltage pulses observed in some heterostructure devices. The bias field that initiates the switching was determined from an iterative method that uses feedback information, such as carrier drift velocity and electron temperature, from hot carrier transport. The bias voltage needed to switch the device was found to decrease with the increasing device temperature.

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