Simulation and Design of HgSe Colloidal Quantum-Dot Microspectrometers

In recent years, colloidal quantum dots (CQD) have been intensively studied in various fields due to their excellent optical properties, such as size-tunable absorption features and wide spectral tunability. Therefore, CQDs are promising infrared materials to become alternatives for epitaxial semiconductors, such as HgCdTe, InSb, and type II superlattices. Here, we report a simulation study of a microspectrometer fabricated by integrating an intraband HgSe CQD detector with a distributed Bragg reflector (DBR). Intraband HgSe CQDs possess unique narrowband absorption and optical response, which makes them an ideal material platform to achieve high-resolution detection for infrared signatures, such as molecular vibration. A microspectrometer with a center wavelength of 4 µm is studied. The simulation results show that the optical absorption rate of the HgSe CQD detector can be increased by 300%, and the full-width-at-half-maximum (FWHM) is narrowed to 30%, realizing precise regulation of the absorption wavelength. The influence of the incident angle of light waves on the microspectrometer is also simulated, and the results show that the absorption rate of the HgSe quantum dot detector is increased 2–3 times within the incident angle of 0–23 degrees, reaching a spectral absorption rate of more than 80%. Therefore, we believe that HgSe CQDs are a promising material for realizing practical HgSe microspectrometers.