Investigation of charge-trapping effects in InSb focal plane arrays

Steven Lawrence Solomon; James D. Garnett; Hao Chen

doi:10.1117/12.158702

20 October 1993 Investigation of charge-trapping effects in InSb focal plane arrays

Steven Lawrence Solomon, James D. Garnett, Hao Chen

Proceedings Volume 1946, Infrared Detectors and Instrumentation; (1993) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.158702
Event: Optical Engineering and Photonics in Aerospace Sensing, 1993, Orlando, FL, United States

Abstract

We are investigating trapping/recombination centers in near-infrared (1 - 5 micrometers ) InSb imaging arrays via experimentation and theoretical modeling. The presence of impurities, lattice defects and/or surface states can compromise the operational qualities of an imaging array by introducing latent images, signal rate/quantum efficiency loss at low signal levels, and by increasing noise and dark current. Identification of these trapping centers should enable a reduction in their number density by appropriate changes in the material processing and fabrication steps. We have performed experiments and analyses on both gate-controlled arrays (SiO_x surface passivation) and recently received gateless arrays (Si₃N₄ surface passivation). All of the gated arrays showed latent images at temperatures 6 - 26 K for signal fluxes as low as 1500 e^-/s/pixel, while neither of the two gateless arrays examined has shown latent images in the same temperature range; no latent image was detected (to a level of < 50 e^-) in a 5 second integration after exposure to a 2 X 10⁶ e^-/sec/pixel signal flux. We interpret this as evidence for surface state charge trapping in the region of the gate oxide, which is largely eliminated by the new passivation. The physics of surface states is investigated theoretically in order to gain an understanding of the surface contribution to the observed behavior, and a model is presented to explain the experimental results.

Citation Download Citation

Steven Lawrence Solomon, James D. Garnett, and Hao Chen "Investigation of charge-trapping effects in InSb focal plane arrays", Proc. SPIE 1946, Infrared Detectors and Instrumentation, (20 October 1993); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.158702

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