Iron doped InGaAs: Competitive THz emitters and detectors fabricated from the same photoconductor

Today, the optimum material systems for photoconductive emitters and receivers are different. In THz reflection measurements, this leads to complicated optics or performance compromises. We present photoconductive emitters and detectors fabricated from molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) grown iron (Fe) doped InGaAs, which are well suited for a THz time-domain spectroscopy as both emitters and detectors. As a photoconductive emitter, 75 μW ± 5 μW of radiated THz power was measured. As a detector, THz pulses with a bandwidth of up to 6 THz and a peak dynamic range of 95 dB could be detected. These results are comparable to state-of-the-art THz photoconductors, which allows for simple reflection measurements without a performance decrease. The incorporation of Fe in InGaAs during MBE growth is investigated by secondary ion mass spectroscopy, Hall, and transient differential transmission measurements. Growth temperatures close to 400 °C allow for homogeneous Fe doping concentrations up to 5 × 1020 cm−3 and result in a photoconductor with an electron lifetime of 0.3 ps, a resistivity of 2 kΩ cm, and an electron mobility higher than 900 cm2 V−1 s−1. We show that iron dopants are incorporated up to a maximum concentration of 1 × 1017 cm−3 into substitutional lattice sites. The remaining dopants are electrically inactive and form defects that are anneal-stable up to a temperature of 600 °C. The fast recombination center in Fe-doped InGaAs is an unidentified defect, representing ≈0.5% of the nominal iron concentration. The electron and hole capture cross section of this defect is determined as σe = 3.8 × 10−14 cm2 and σh = 5.5 × 10−15 cm2, respectively.