The Distribution Tail of LWIR HgCdTe-on-Si FPAs: a Hypothetical Physical Mechanism

A model is proposed to explain disparities found in the operability values and histograms for long-wavelength infrared HgCdTe focal-plane arrays fabricated on Si substrates compared with those fabricated on CdZnTe. The starting point for the model is the close agreement between the aerial density of discrete species (particles, contamination spots, crystalline defects on Si surface) in various interfaces in the HgCdTe/CdTe/Si structure and the density of failed pixels in the array. The density of discrete species is acquired by applying a newly developed variation of the secondary-ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) depth-profiling technique to samples that have been deuterated to enhance detection. A mechanism of selective activation of threading dislocations in a HgCdTe layer on Si is proposed to link discrete species with failed detector pixels.