Patent ID: 8293566

Claim:
A method for fabrication of an infrared focal plane array photodetector having a two-dimensional (2-D) array of photodetector elements, comprising the steps of: epitaxially growing a plurality of III-V compound semiconductor layers on a gallium antimonide (GaSb) substrate, with the III-V compound semiconductor layers including: a buffer layer; a strained-layer superlattice comprising a plurality of alternating layers of indium arsenide (InAs) and indium gallium antimonide (In x Ga 1-x Sb) with an indium content x in the range 0≦x≦0.5; and a contact layer; electrically isolating each photodetector element from the remaining photodetector elements in the 2-D array of photodetector elements while maintaining the strained-layer superlattice contiguous across the entire 2-D array of photodetector elements by selectively doping a portion of the plurality of compound semiconductor layers within or about each photodetector element; depositing an electrode above the contact layer to independently electrically contact each photodetector element in the 2-D array of photodetector elements; and depositing another electrode proximate to the GaSb substrate to form a common electrical connection to each photodetector element in the 2-D array of photodetector elements.