Performance and modeling of the MWIR HgCdTe electron avalanche photodiode

Beck, Jeffrey; Scritchfield, Richard; Sullivan, Billy; Teherani, Jamie; Wan, C. F.; Kinch, M. A.; Ohlson, Martha; Skokan, M. R.; Wood, Lewis; Mitra, P.; Goodwin, Mike; Robinson, J.E.

doi:10.1117/12.819045

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…Since the dark current gain appears to be about one half to on third the optical current gain[6,7], normalizing the dark current to the full gain would underestimate the dark current dark count rate by a factor of 1/2 to 1/3, respectively, however, the lower amplitude of these events means that their occurrence will be concentrated in the lower threshold, maximum FER, region.…”

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confidence: 95%

Linear mode photon counting from visible to MWIR with HgCdTe avalanche photodiode focal plane arrays

Sullivan¹,

Beck²,

Scritchfield³

et al. 2015

SPIE Proceedings

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Results of characterization data on linear mode photon counting (LMPC) HgCdTe electroninitiated avalanche photodiode (e-APD) focal plane arrays (FPA) are presented that reveal an improved understanding and the growing maturity of the technology. The first successful 2x8 LMPC FPA was fabricated in 2010 [1]. Since then a process validation lot of 2x8 arrays was fabricated. Five arrays from this lot were characterized that replicated the previous 2x8 LMPC array performance. In addition, it was unambiguously verified that readout integrated circuit (ROIC) glow was responsible for most of the false event rate (FER) of the 2010 array. The application of a single layer metal blocking layer between the ROIC and the detector array and optimization of the ROIC biases reduced the FER by an order of magnitude. Photon detection efficiencies (PDEs) of greater than 50% were routinely demonstrated across 5 arrays, with one array reaching a PDE of 70%. High resolution pixel-surface spot scans were performed and the junction diameters of the diodes were measured. The junction diameter was decreased from 31 µm to 25 µm resulting in a 2x increase in E-APD gain from 470 on the 2010 array to 1100 on one of the 2013 FPAs. Mean single photon signal to noise ratios of >12 were demonstrated at excess noise factors of 1.2-1.3. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) performed measurements on the delivered FPA that verified the PDE and FER data.

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confidence: 95%

Linear mode photon counting from visible to MWIR with HgCdTe avalanche photodiode focal plane arrays

Sullivan¹,

Beck²,

Scritchfield³

et al. 2015

SPIE Proceedings

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“…For gated detection, the noise equivalent photon(NEPh) is defined as the number of integrated photons that create a signal equal to the quiescent noise. The NEPh is related to the gain normalized dark current density (GNDCD) [9]. This expression is below:…”

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confidence: 99%

Design and fabrication of HgCdTe linear avalanche devices with low gain normalized dark current density

Xie,

Guo,

Shen

et al. 2023

Third International Computing Imaging Conference (CITA 2023)

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Mid-Wavelength Infrared (MWIR) HgCdTe electron-initiated avalanche photodiodes (e-APDs) have presented excellent performances to resolve and count photons. Aiming at low flux, the Readout Integrated Circuit (ROIC) noise can be extremely reduced by certain device gain, and very low excess noise of HgCdTe e-APDs makes opportunity for noise equivalent photon (NEPh) to be one. Therefore, the main issue for Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) of HgCdTe APD is Gain Normalized Dark Current Density (GNDCD) at high reverse bias. In this work, the electric field distribution is optimized by designing the mesa device structure to suppress the tunneling current at high operating voltage. Furthermore, new combining dry/wet etching technology and passivation technology based on Plasma Atomic Enhanced Layer Deposition (PEALD) were used to reduce surface leakage current. Finally, 20 μm pitch 128×128 array HgCdTe APDs for cut-off wavelengths 4.32 μm @80K corresponding to compositions xcd 0.326 were fabricated, the measured GNDCD of test unit is about 1.5~50×10-9 A/cm2 at 0~13V

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Study on dark current suppression of HgCdTe avalanche photodiodes for low flux photon detection

Xie,

Guo,

Shen

et al. 2024

Applied Physics Letters

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Mid-wavelength infrared HgCdTe electron-initiated avalanche photodiodes (e-APDs) have presented excellent performances on resolving and counting photons. Aiming at low flux, the readout integrated circuit noise can be significantly reduced by certain device gain, and very low excess noise of HgCdTe e-APDs gives the opportunity for noise equivalent photon (NEPh) to be 1. Therefore, the main issue for signal-to-noise ratio of HgCdTe APD is gain normalized dark current density (GNDCD) at high reverse bias. In this work, the electric field distribution is optimized by designing the mesa device structure to suppress the tunneling current at high operating voltage. Furthermore, etching technology combining dry etching and wet etching and passivation technology based on plasma enhanced atomic layer deposition were used to reduce surface leakage current. Finally, 20 μm pitch 128 × 128 array HgCdTe APDs for cutoff wavelength 4.32 μm at 80 K corresponding to compositions xCd = 0.326 were fabricated, the measured GNDCD of the test unit is about 1.5–10 × 10−9 A/cm2 at 0–13 V, and very low excess noise guaranteed the NEPh to be 2.0 at gain = 93 and 1.6 at gain = 193.

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Performance and modeling of the MWIR HgCdTe electron avalanche photodiode

Cited by 3 publications

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Linear mode photon counting from visible to MWIR with HgCdTe avalanche photodiode focal plane arrays

Linear mode photon counting from visible to MWIR with HgCdTe avalanche photodiode focal plane arrays

Design and fabrication of HgCdTe linear avalanche devices with low gain normalized dark current density

Study on dark current suppression of HgCdTe avalanche photodiodes for low flux photon detection

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