A. A. Buell

MBE growth of HgCdTe on silicon substrates for large format MWIR focal plane arrays

HgCdTe p-on-n double layer heterojunctions (DLHJs) for mid-wave infrared (MWIR) detector applications have been grown on 100 mm (4 inch) diameter (211) silicon substrates by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). The structural quality of these films is excellent, as demonstrated by x-ray rocking curves with full widths at half maximum (FWHMs) of 80–100 arcsec, and etch pit densities from 1 106 to 7 106 cm−2. Morphological defect densities for these layers are generally less than 1000 cm−2. Improving Hg flux coverage of the wafer during growth can reduce void defects near the edges of the wafers. Improved tellurium source designs have resulted in better temporal flux stability and a reduction of the center to edge x-value variation from 9% to only 2%. Photovoltaic MWIR detectors have been fabricated from some of these 100mm wafers, and the devices show performance at 140 K which is comparable to other MWIR detectors grown on bulk CdZnTe substrates by MBE and by liquid phase epitaxy.

Wide-FOV FPAs for a shipboard distributed aperture system

The Navy faces an ever evolving threat scenario, ranging from sub-sonic sea skimming cruise missiles to newer, unconventional threats such as that experienced by the USS Cole. Next generation naval technology development programs are developing “stealthy” ships by reducing a ships radar cross section and controlling electromagnetic emissions. To meet these threat challenges in an evolving platform environment, ONR has initiated the “Wide Aspect MWIR Array” program. In support of this program, Raytheon Vision Systems (RVS) is developing a 2560 X 512 element focal plane array, utilizing Molecular Beam Epitaxially grown HgCdTe on silicon detector technology. RVS will package this array in a sealed Dewar with a long-life cryogenic cooler, electronics, on-gimbal power conditioning and a thermal reference source. The resulting sub system will be a component in a multi camera distributed aperture situation awareness sensor, which will provide continuous surveillance of the horizon. We will report on the utilization of MWIR Molecular Beam Epitaxial HgCdTe on Silicon material for fabrication of the detector arrays. Detector arrays fabricated on HgCdTe/Si have no thermal expansion mismatch relative to the readout integrated circuits. Therefore large-area focal plane arrays (FPAs) can be developed without concern for thermal cycle reliability. In addition these devices do not require thinning or reticulation like InSb FPAs to yield the high levels of Modulation Transfer Function (MTF) required by a missile warning sensor. HgCdTe/Si wafers can be scaled up to much larger sizes than the HgCdTe/CdZnTe wafers. Four-inch-diameter HgCdTe/Si wafers are currently being produced and are significantly larger than the standard 1.7 inch x 2.6 inch HgCdTe/CdTe wafers. The use of Si substrates also enables the use of automated semiconductor fabrication equipment.

Status of HgCdTe/Si Technology for Large Format Infrared Focal Plane Arrays

HgCdTe offers significant advantages over other semiconductors which has made it the most widely utilized variable-gap material in infrared focal plane array (FPA) technology. However, one of the main limitations of the HgCdTe materials system has been the size of lattice-matched bulk CdZnTe substrates, used for epitaxially-grown HgCdTe, which are 30 cm2 in size for production and have historically been difficult and expensive to scale in size. This limitation does not adequately support the increasing demand for larger FPA formats which now require sizes up to and beyond 2048 x 2048 and only a single die can be printed per wafer. Heteroepitaxial Si-based substrates offer a cost-effective technology that can be more readily scaled to large wafer sizes. Most of the effort in the IR community in the last 10 years has focused on growing HgCdTe directly on (112)Si substrates by MBE. At Raytheon we have scaled the MBE (112)HgCdTe/Si process originally developed at HRL for 3-in wafers, first to 4-in wafers and more recently to 6 in wafers. We have demonstrated a wide range of MWIR FPA formats up to 2560 x 512 in size and have found that their performance is comparable to arrays grown on bulk CdZnTe substrates by either MBE or LPE techniques. More recent work is focused on extending HgCdTe/Si technology to LWIR wavelengths. The goal of this paper is to review the current status of HgCdTe/Si technology both at Raytheon and the published work available from other organizations.

Advances in HgCdTe-based infrared detector materials: the role of molecular-beam epitaxy

Since its initial synthesis and investigation more than 40 years ago, the HgCdTe alloy semiconductor system has evolved into one of the primary infrared detector materials for high-performance infrared focal-plane arrays (FPA) designed to operate in the 3-5 mm and 8-12 mm spectral ranges of importance for thermal imaging systems. Over the course of the past decade, significant advances have been made in the development of thin-film epitaxial growth techniques, such as molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE), which have enabled the synthesis of IR detector device structures with complex doping and composition profiles. The central role played by in situ sensors for monitoring and control of the MBE growth process are reviewed. The development of MBE HgCdTe growth technology is discussed in three particular device applications: avalanche photodiodes for 1.55 +m photodetection, megapixel FPAs on Si substrates, and multispectral IR detectors.