Searching for Infra-Red Detector Materials Using High-Throughput Computing

Infra-red detectors can be built using p-n junction photodetectors made of small band gap materials. There are a handful materials used nowadays as infra-red detectors from InSb to Cd1-xHgxTe (MCT) but they all present issues in terms of performance or ease-of-growth. Finding alternative small band gap semiconductors that will lead to high performance detector is an open research area and navigating the landscape of potential semiconductors can be challenging. Here, we use a data-driven approach based on high-throughput computational screening to identify materials with adequate properties for photodetectors: band gap, mobility, non-radiative recombination (Auger and defect capture). We report on our results stressing the challenges in dealing with small band gap materials in terms of DFT functionals. We discuss new families of materials of interest and show some preliminary experimental results on promising candidates.