The HgTe‐CdTe superlattice is found to exhibit properties superior to those of the (Hg, Cd)Te alloy as an infrared detector material. A calculation shows that the superlattice tunneling length is shorter than that of the alloy with the same band gap. For a given cutoff wavelength tolerance, we find that less fractional precision is needed in the superlattice control parameter (layer thicknesses) than in the alloy control parameter (composition). Also,p‐side diffusion currents are expected to be reduced due to the larger superlattice electron effective mass.