Disclosed are minority carrier based mercury-cadmium telluride (HgCdTe) infrared detectors and arrays, and methods of making, are disclosed. The constructions provided by the invention enable the detectors to be used at higher temperatures, and/or be implemented on less expensive semiconductor substrates to lower manufacturing costs. An exemplary embodiment a substrate, a bottom contact layer disposed on the substrate, a first mercury-cadmium telluride layer having a first bandgap energy value disposed on the bottom contact layer, a second mercury-cadmium telluride layer having a second bandgap energy value that is greater than the first bandgap energy value disposed on the first mercury-cadmium telluride layer, and a collector layer disposed on the second mercury-cadmium telluride layer, wherein the first and second mercury-cadmium telluride layers are each doped with an n-type dopant.