InGaAs/InP thermoelectric infrared sensor utilizing surface bulk micromachining technology

A novel InGaAs/InP micromachined thermoelectric sensor is presented. The key features of the reported sensors are the high thermal resistivity and high mobility of InGaAs lattice matched to InP, combined with a value of Seebeck coefficient that is acceptable for such applications. The anisotropic and selective surface bulk micromachining properties of this material system were successfully applied to devices aligned along the [010] orientation on a [100] InP wafer and the details of the technology used for this purpose are presented. A responsivity of 184 V/W and a relative detectivity of 7.1/spl times/108 cm Hz/sup -1/2//W have been demonstrated using this new sensor approach.