Development and Production of Array Barrier Detectors at SCD

• Published in: Journal of electronic materials Vol. 46; no. 9; pp. 5386 - 5393
• Main Authors: Klipstein, P. C., Avnon, E., Benny, Y., Berkowicz, E., Cohen, Y., Dobromislin, R., Fraenkel, R., Gershon, G., Glozman, A., Hojman, E., Ilan, E., Karni, Y., Klin, O., Kodriano, Y., Krasovitsky, L., Langof, L., Lukomsky, I., Nevo, I., Nitzani, M., Pivnik, I., Rappaport, N., Rosenberg, O., Shtrichman, I., Shkedy, L., Snapi, N., Talmor, R., Tessler, R., Weiss, E., Tuito, A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.09.2017; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Cadmium; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemistry and Materials Science; Circuit design; Cut-off; Dark current; Diffusion barriers; Electronics and Microelectronics; Focal plane devices; Indium arsenides; Infrared detectors; Instrumentation; Intermetallic compounds; Materials Science; Mean time to failure; Mercury cadmium telluride; Noise equivalent temperature difference; Operating temperature; Optical and Electronic Materials; Pixels; Quantum efficiency; Semiconductor devices; Sensors; Silicon substrates; Solid State Physics; Tellurides; Thinning; barrier detector; XBn; Infrared detector; XBp; MWIR; LWIR; megapixel; type II superlattice
• ISSN: 0361-5235; 1543-186X
• DOI: 10.1007/s11664-017-5590-x

XB n or XB p barrier detectors exhibit diffusion-limited dark currents comparable with mercury cadmium telluride Rule-07 and high quantum efficiencies. In 2011, SemiConductor Devices (SCD) introduced “HOT Pelican D”, a 640 × 512/15- μ m pitch InAsSb/AlSbAs XB n mid-wave infrared (MWIR) detector with a 4.2- μ m cut-off and an operating temperature of ∼150 K. Its low power (∼3 W), high pixel operability (>99.5%) and long mean time to failure make HOT Pelican D a highly reliable integrated detector-cooler product with a low size, weight and power. More recently, “HOT Hercules” was launched with a 1280 × 1024/15- μ m format and similar advantages. A 3-megapixel, 10- μ m pitch version (“HOT Blackbird”) is currently completing development. For long-wave infrared applications, SCD’s 640 × 512/15- μ m pitch “Pelican-D LW” XB p type II superlattice (T2SL) detector has a ∼9.3- μ m cut-off wavelength. The detector contains InAs/GaSb and InAs/AlSb T2SLs, and is fabricated into focal plane array (FPA) detectors using standard production processes including hybridization to a digital silicon read-out integrated circuit (ROIC), glue underfill and substrate thinning. The ROIC has been designed so that the complete detector closely follows the interfaces of SCD’s MWIR Pelican-D detector family. The Pelican-D LW FPA has a quantum efficiency of ∼50%, and operates at 77 K with a pixel operability of >99% and noise equivalent temperature difference of 13 mK at 30 Hz and F/2.7.