Infrared detector, infrared detecting apparatus, and method of manufacturing infrared detector

An infrared detector comprising:na reflection portion which transmits rays in the far-infrared range and in the middle-infrared range and which reflects rays in the near-infrared range and in the visible range;a photo-current generating portion having a quantum well structure in which electrons are excited by the rays in the far-infrared range and in the middle-infrared range having passed through the reflection portion and in which the electrons thus excited generate photo-current;a light emitting portion having a quantum well structure into which electrons of the photo-current generated by the photo-current generating portion are injected and in which the electrons thus injected thereinto are recombined with holes so as to emit rays in the near-infrared range and in the visible range; anda photo-detecting portion which detects the rays in the near-infrared range and in the visible range emitted from the light emitting portion and which detects the rays in the near-infrared range and in the visible range emitted from the light emitting portion and reflected by the reflection portion, whereinat least the reflection portion, the photo-current generating portion, and the light emitting portion are made of group III-V compound semiconductors that are layered on top of a substrate, andincident rays in the far-infrared range and in the middle-infrared range are detected by the detection, performed by the photo-detecting portion, of the rays in the near-infrared range and in the visible range emitted from the light emitting portion.

A method of manufacturing an infrared detector comprising the steps of:nforming a layer of a light emitting portion on top of a substrate, the light emitting portion having a quantum well structure in which electrons and holes are recombined together so that rays in the near-infrared range and in the visible range are emitted;forming a layer of a photo-current generating portion on top of the light emitting portion, the photo-current generating portion having a quantum well structure in which electrons are excited by rays in the far-infrared range and in the middle-infrared range, and photo-current that is to be injected into the light emitting portion is generated by the excited electrons;forming a layer of a reflection portion on top of the photo-current generating portion so as to form a first element, the reflection portion transmitting rays in the far-infrared range and in the middle-infrared range incident into the photo-current generating portion, and reflecting rays in the near-infrared range and in the visible range emitted from the light emitting portion towards a photo-detecting portion;forming an independent second element with the photo-detecting portion which detects the rays in near-infrared range and in the visible range emitted from the light emitting portion and which detects the rays in the near-infrared range and in the visible range emitted from the light emitting portion and reflected by the reflection portion; andbonding the first element and the second element to form a single united body, whereinat least the reflection portion, the photo-current generating portion, the light emitting portion are made of group III-V compound semiconductors by the same crystal-growth method, andthereby an infrared detector that detects the incident rays in the far-infrared range and in the middle-infrared range by making the photo-detecting portion detect the rays in the near-infrared range and in the visible range emitted from the light emitting portion is manufactured.

A method of manufacturing an infrared detector comprising the steps of:nforming a layer of a photo-detecting portion to detect rays in the near-infrared range and in the visible range on top of a substrate made of a group III-V compound semiconductor;forming a layer of a light emitting portion on top of the photo-detecting portion, the light emitting portion having a quantum well structure in which electrons and holes are recombined together so that rays in the near-infrared range and in the visible range to be detected by the photo-detecting portion are emitted;forming a layer of a photo-current generating portion on top of the light emitting portion, the photo-current generating portion having a quantum well structure in which electrons are excited by rays in the far-infrared range and in the middle-infrared range, and photo-current that is to be injected into the light emitting portion is generated by the excited electrons;forming a layer of a reflection portion on top of the photo-current generating portion, the reflection portion transmitting rays in the far-infrared range and in the middle-infrared range incident into the photo-current generating portion, and reflecting rays in the near-infrared range and in the visible range that are emitted from the light emitting portion towards the photo-detecting portion, whereinall of the reflection portion, the photo-current generating portion, the light emitting portion, and the photo-detecting portion are made of group III-V compound semiconductors by the same crystal-growth method so as to form a single united body, andthereby an infrared detector that detects the incident rays in the far-infrared range and in the middle-infrared range by making the photo-detecting portion detect the rays in the near-infrared range and in the visible range emitted from the light emitting portion is manufactured.