392 SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS / Mercury Cadmium Telluride

See also Nimtz G (1993) IV– VI compounds. In: Hellwege K

and Madelung O (eds) Numerical Data and
Nonlinear Optics, Basics: Kramers –Krönig Relations in Functional Relationships in Science and Technology.
Nonlinear Optics. Landolt-Börnstein, new series, group III, vol. 17, Part F,
pp. 152– 180. Berlin: Springer Verlag.
Further Reading Partin DL and Heremans J (1994) Growth of narrow band-
gap semiconductors. In: Moss TS and Mahajan S (eds)
Bauer G (1980) Magnetooptical properties of IV– VI Handbook on Semiconductors, vol. 3A, pp. 369 – 450.
compounds. In: Zawadzki W (ed.) Narrow Gap Semi- Amsterdam: North-Holland.
conductors Physics and Applications, pp. 470– 494. Preier H (1990) Physics and applications of IV– VI
Berlin: Springer Verlag. compound semiconductor lasers. Semiconductor Science
Bauer G and Krenn H (1985) Lead selenide, lead and Technology 5: S12 – S20.
telluride. In: Palik ED (ed.) Handbook of Optical Ravich YI, Efimova BA and Smirnov IA (1970) Semicon-
Constants, pp. 517 – 523 and 535– 546. New York: ducting Lead Chalcogenides. New York: Plenum.
Academic Press. Schwarzl T, Heiss W and Springholz G (1999) Ultra-high-
Felix CL, Bewley WW, Vurgaftman I, et al. (2001) Low-
finesse IV– VI microcavities for the midinfared. Applied
threshold optically pumped l ¼ 4.4 mm vertical cavity
Physics Letters 75: 1246– 1248.
surface emitting laser with a PbS quantum well active
Springholz G, Shi Z and Zogg H (1998) Molecular
region. Applied Physics Letters 78: 3770– 3772.
beam epitaxy of IV–VI semiconductors. In: Liu AWK
Holloway G (1980) Thin film IV– VI semiconductor
and Santos MB (eds) Heteroepitaxial Thin Film Systems,
photodiodes. In: Hass G and Francombe MF (eds)
pp. 621– 688. Singapore: World Scientific.
Physics of Thin Films, vol. 11, pp. 105– 203. New York:
Springholz G, Schwarzl T, Heiss W, et al. (2001) Mid-
Academic Press.
Jantsch W (1983) Dielectric properties and soft modes in infrared surface-emitting PbSe/PbEuTe quantum dot-
semiconducting (PbSnGe)Te. Springer Tracts in Modern lasers. Applied Physics Letters 79 –81: 1225.
Physics 99: 1 –50. Tacke M (1995) New developments and applications of
Katzir A, Rosman R, Shani Y, et al. (1989) Tuneable lead tunable IR lead salt lasers. Infrared Physics and
salt lasers. In: Cheo PK (ed.) Handbook of Solid State Technology 36: 447– 463.
Lasers, pp. 227 – 347. New York: Marcel Dekker. Yuan S, Springholz G, Bauer G and Kriechbaum M (1994)
Khoklov D (2003) Lead chalcogenioles: Physics and Electronic and optical properties of PBTe/PB1-xEuxTe
applications. In: Manasreh MO (ed.) Optoelectronic multiple quantum well structures. Physical Review B49:
Properties of Semiconductors and Superlattices, vol. 18. 5476– 5489.
New York: Taylor and Francis. Zemel JN, Jensen JD and Schoolar RB (1965) Electrical
Lucovsky G, Martin RM and Burstein E (1974) Structure, and optical properties of epitaxial films of PbS, PbSe,
bonding and lattice dynamical properties of the IV– VI PbTe and SnTe. Physical Review 140: A330 –A337.
compounds. In: Rabii S (ed.) Physics of IV– VI Zogg H, Fach A, John J, et al. (1995) Photovoltaic IV– VI on
Compounds and Alloys, pp. 93 – 102. New York: Si infrared sensor arrrays for thermal imaging. Optical
Gordon and Breach. Engineering 34: 1964– 1969.

Mercury Cadmium Telluride

M B Reine, BAE SYSTEMS, Lexington, MA, USA x ¼ 0:16 (for T ¼ 0 KÞ: This broad range of energy
q 2005, Elsevier Ltd. All Rights Reserved. bandgap provides a continuum of materials whose
absorption edge can be tailored to provide high-
performance quantum detectors for wavelengths over
the 1 –30 mm spectral range. Direct allowed valence-
Introduction to-conduction band transitions are responsible for
Mercury-cadmium telluride (HgCdTe or Hg12xCdx large values of the optical absorption coefficient,
Te) is a pseudobinary alloy semiconductor that which enable quantum efficiencies approaching
crystallizes in the zincblende structure. The energy 100% to be achieved in practical device designs.
bandgap EG(x,T) varies continuously, and nearly Long minority carrier lifetimes result in low thermal
linearly, with alloy composition parameter x, ranging noise, and permit high performance to be achieved at
from 1.6 eV for the wide-gap semiconductor CdTe operating temperatures that are the highest reported
to 20.3 eV for the semimetal HgTe. The bandgap among infrared detectors of comparable cutoff
passes through zero at an alloy composition of wavelengths. HgCdTe is well-established today as
 SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS / Mercury Cadmium Telluride 393

the most broadly applicable high-performance background-limited semiconductor infrared detector

infrared detector material. that would operate at temperatures as high as 77 K,
This article summarizes the fundamental properties the group led by Paul Kruse at the Honeywell
of this versatile alloy semiconductor, and relates the Corporate Research Center in Hopkins, Minnesota
material properties to its success as an infrared developed a modified Bridgman crystal growth
photoconductive and photovoltaic detector material. technique for HgCdTe. In 1962 they reported both
photoconductive and photovoltaic detection in
rudimentary HgCdTe devices.
Historical Background
It is noteworthy that HgCdTe is probably the first
example of a semiconductor material that was
Fundamental Material Properties
intentionally created to satisfy well-defined theoreti- Three fundamental properties determine the degree to
cal device requirements. The importance of the which a semiconductor will make a successful
infrared atmospheric transmission window at infrared detector. First, the energy bandgap must be
8–12 mm was well known for thermal imaging approximately equal to the smallest photon energy to
systems, which enable night vision by imaging be detected. There can be severe cooling penalties if
emitted infrared radiation from the scene rather the bandgap is significantly smaller than the smallest
than reflected visible radiation. The only available photon energy of interest. Second, the optical
infrared detectors with the required sensitivity at absorption coefficient must be large enough so that
8–12 mm were extrinsic photoconductors such as nearly all incident photons of interest are converted to
copper-doped germanium, in which the photoin- electron – hole pairs for practical values of device
duced transitions were between a donor or acceptor thickness. Third, the inherent recombination mecha-
level and the adjacent band extremum. However, nisms must allow long carrier lifetimes to be realized
such extrinsic detectors required cooling to prohibi- so that thermal generation rates, and hence thermal
tively low temperatures, such as 10 –15 K, which noise, can be minimized for practical devices and
made thermal imaging systems bulky and operating conditions.
impractical. The three key features that make HgCdTe the
Theory showed that the reasons for such a low nearly ideal infrared detector material – tailorable
operating temperature were fundamental to the energy band gap over the 1– 30 mm range, large
extrinsic detector material itself – essentially a short optical absorption coefficients that enable high
carrier lifetime that resulted in a large thermal quantum efficiency, and favorable inherent recombi-
generation rate and a correspondingly large thermal nation mechanisms that lead to high operating
noise. Theory also showed that an intrinsic detector, temperature – are direct consequences of the energy
in which the photoinduced transitions were direct band structure of this zincblende semiconductor.
(vertical) transitions between the valence band and They apply no matter whether the device embodiment
the conduction band, could have significantly longer is a photoconductor, a photodiode or a metal –
carrier lifetimes. This meant that an intrinsic detector, insulator– semiconductor detector. In addition,
with a bandgap of 0.1 eV that matched the 8– 12 mm HgCdTe has many other favorable material pro-
band, could achieve the required sensitivity at much perties, summarized in this article, that are techno-
higher operating temperatures, as high as 77 K, that logically important for realizing practical infrared
of liquid nitrogen. These theoretical and practical detectors. Tables 1 and 2 summarize various material
considerations motivated the search in the late 1950s properties for Hg12xCdxTe. Table 1 summarizes
for a semiconductor with a direct bandgap of 0.1 eV. material properties for Hg12xCdxTe that vary with
The first report of the synthesis of the semimetal alloy composition x and temperature T: lattice
HgTe and the wide-bandgap semiconductor CdTe to constant a, energy band gap EG, cutoff wavelength
form the semiconductor alloy HgCdTe was published lCO ð¼ 1:24=EG Þ, intrinsic carrier concentration ni,
in 1959 by the Royal Radar Establishment in conduction band effective mass ratio mC/m0, conduc-
Malvern, England. This seminal paper reported tion band g-factor gC, static and high frequency
both photoconductive and photovoltaic response at dielectric constants 1S/10 and 11/1 0, index of
wavelengths extending to 12 mm, and made the refraction nR ¼ ð11 =10 Þ1=2 , electron and heavy hole
understated observation that this material showed mobilities me and mhh, mobility ratio b, radiative and
promise for intrinsic infrared detectors. Auger-1 lifetimes tRAD and tAuger-1, and typical
Soon thereafter, working under a US Air Force lifetimes ttypical observed in n-type HgCdTe of low
contract with the objective of devising an 8– 12 mm carrier concentration (,1 £ 1015 cm23 ).
394 SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS / Mercury Cadmium Telluride

Table 1 Material properties for selected compositions of Hg12xCdxTe, including the binary components HgTe and CdTe, and several
technologically important alloy compositions. The radiative and Auger-1 lifetimes tRAD and tAuger-1 are calculated for n-type HgCdTe
with ND ¼ 1 £ 1015 cm23

Property HgTe Hg12xCdxTe CdTe

x 0 0.194 0.205 0.225 0.31 0.44 0.62 1.0

a (Å) 6.461 6.464 6.464 6.464 6.465 6.468 6.472 6.481
T (K) 77 77 77 77 140 200 250 300
EG (eV) 20.261 0.073 0.091 0.123 0.272 0.474 0.749 1.490
lCO (mm) 16.9 13.6 10.1 4.6 2.6 1.7 0.8
ni (cm23) 1.9 £ 1014 5.8 £ 1013 6.3 £ 1012 3.7 £ 1012 7.1 £ 1011 3.1 £ 1010 4.1 £ 105
mC/m0 0.006 0.007 0.010 0.021 0.035 0.053 0.102
gC 2150 2118 284 233 215 27 21.2
1S/10 20.0 18.2 18.1 17.9 17.1 15.9 14.2 10.6
11/10 14.4 12.8 12.7 12.5 11.9 10.8 9.3 6.2
nR 3.79 3.58 3.57 3.54 3.44 3.29 3.06 2.50
me (cm2/V-s) 4.5 £ 105 3.0 £ 105 1.0 £ 105
mhh (cm2/V-s) 450 450 450
b ¼ me =mhh 1000 667 222
tRAD (ms) 16.5 13.9 10.4 11.3 11.2 10.6
tAuger-1 (ms) 0.45 0.85 1.8 40 450 4.8 £ 103
ttypical (ms) 0.4 0.8 1 7

Table 2 Material properties for Hg12xCdxTe that are independent of or relatively insensitive to alloy composition

Property Symbol Value

Kane matrix element EP 19 eV

Split-off band energy D 0.93 eV
Heavy-hole effective mass ratio mhh/m0 0.40–0.53
Valence band offset Ev(HgTe) 2 Ev(CdTe) 0.35–0.55 eV

Energy Band Gap and Band Structure wavelength in Figure 2. Several trends are evident.
The absorption strength generally decreases as the
The energy band gap EG ðx; TÞ of Hg12xCdxTe varies
gap becomes smaller due both to the decrease in the
continuously, and nearly linearly, with alloy compo-
conduction band effective mass and to the l21/2
sition parameter x, ranging from 1.6 eV for the wide-
dependence of the absorption coefficient on wave-
gap semiconductor CdTe to 2 0.3 eV for the semi-
length l. There is an exponential tail at energies just
metal HgTe, as shown in Figure 1a. Also plotted in
below the bandgap energy.
Figure 1a is the cutoff wavelength lCO ðx; TÞ
ð< hc=EG ðx; TÞ; where h is Planck’s constant and c is
the speed of light), defined as that wavelength at Carrier Lifetime Mechanisms
which the photoresponse falls to 50% of its peak
value. The energy bandgap EG ðx; TÞ; defined at the There are two fundamental mechanisms that
difference between the G6 and G8 band extrema at determine the minority carrier lifetime in defect-
G ¼ 0; passes through zero at an alloy composition of free HgCdTe: radiative recombination and Auger
x ¼ 0:16 (for T ¼ 0 KÞ; as illustrated in Figure 1b. recombination (Auger-1 in n-type and Auger-7 in
This broad range of energy bandgap provides a p-type). Because they involve only interactions
continuum of materials whose absorption edge can among electrons and holes in the valence and
be tailored to provide high-performance quantum conduction bands, and do not require the
detectors for wavelengths over the 1 –30 mm spectral intermediary of defect states, these mechanisms are
range. regarded as inherent to the material itself, depending
only on the band structure, the donor or acceptor
concentration, and the temperature. The important
Optical Absorption Coefficient
advantage that HgCdTe enjoys as a high-perform-
Optical absorption coefficient data for several alloy ance detector material is that these fundamental
compositions of Hg12xCdxTe are plotted versus mechanisms provide, for practically achievable
 SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS / Mercury Cadmium Telluride 395

Figure 1 (a) Energy bandgap EG(x,T ) and cutoff wavelength lCO (x ; T ) for Hg12xCdxTe, plotted versus alloy composition parameter
x, for temperatures of 77 K (solid curves) and 300 K (dashed curves). Horizontal bars indicate important cutoff wavelengths for HgCdTe
detector technology. (b) Band diagrams near the G point calculated for HgTe, for two compositions of Hg12xCdxTe, and for CdTe,
illustrating the transition from negative to positive energy bandgap. The energy bandgap is defined at the difference between the G6 and
G8 band extrema at G ¼ 0. Part (b) reproduced with permission from Chadi DJ and Cohen ML (1973) Electronic structure of Hg12xCdxTe
alloys and charge-density calculations using representative K points. Physical Review B 7: 692–699.

carrier concentrations, lifetimes that are long than for other classes of infrared detectors,
enough (and hence thermal generation rates that such as extrinsic detectors (As-doped Si, Cu-doped
are low enough) that background-limited sensitivity Ge) and quantum-well infrared photodetectors
is achieved at temperatures substantially higher (QWIPs).
396 SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS / Mercury Cadmium Telluride

Figure 2 Optical absorption coefficient data for several Hg12xCdxTe alloy compositions, for photon energies near the fundamental
absorption edge, plotted versus wavelength.

Figure 3 Calculated detectivity (D p) for Hg12xCdxTe infrared detectors for four technologically important wavelength regions, plotted
versus operating temperature.

Figure 3 illustrates the sensitivities and operating to-noise ratio that is the key figure of merit for
temperatures that can be achieved for HgCdTe the sensitivity of an infrared detector. At lower
infrared detectors for four important wavelength temperatures, detector thermal noise is negligible,
regions. Detectivity, Dp, is the normalized signal- and D p is limited by detector noise due to
 SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS / Mercury Cadmium Telluride 397

fluctuations in the arrival rate of photons from the composition are well in hand, meeting or exceeding
thermal room-background radiation. This limit is requirements.
referred to as the BLIP (background-limited infrared LPE-based one-layer and two-layer photodiode
photodetector) limit, and is indicated in Figure 3 by technology is well established today, offering the
the horizontal dashed lines. As detector temperature lowest defect densities and highest operabilities for
increases, the detector thermal noise increases production quantities of high performance FPAs. The
exponentially, and eventually overcomes the back- VPE methods, MBE and MOVPE, will probably not
ground noise, causing Dp to decrease exponentially entirely replace LPE in the near future, but will
for further increases in temperature. Detector continue to improve, particularly with respect to
thermal noise is proportional to the thermal lower defect densities, offering in situ growth of
generation rate, which is inversely proportional to advanced bandgap-engineered detector designs that
the carrier lifetime. are unwieldy or impossible with LPE, such as dual-
band detectors, avalanche photodiodes, and planar
buried junctions with in situ CdTe passivation. MBE
n-Type and p-Type Doping
has shown the potential for rapidly switching from
HgCdTe can be made n-type or p-type by a number growth of one HgCdTe alloy composition to another
of relatively convenient methods, at carrier concen- in successive growth runs, without the necessity of
trations required for high-performance n-type photo- preparatory calibration growth runs. This compo-
conductor and p-n junction photodiode architectures. sitional agility, important for the rapid and cost-
Common donors are indium and iodine. Arsenic has effective adjustment from product to product, will be
become the most commonly used acceptor dopant, further enhanced by the ongoing efforts to implement
although copper and gold are used in some cases. and improve in situ real-time monitors and feedback
Some HgCdTe photodiode designs still employ controls.
native metal-vacancy point defects as acceptors,
although the clear trend is toward the use of extrinsic
Substrates for Epitaxial Growth
acceptor doping to avoid the strong Shockley– Read
recombination associated with the Hg vacancy. The lattice mismatch between HgTe and CdTe
Residual electrically active impurity concentrations is small, approximately 0.3%. This allows
are generally less than 1 £ 10 14 cm 23, which epitaxial growth of high-quality HgCdTe films on
allows controllable doping at low-1014 cm 23 IR-transparent CdTe or nearly-lattice-matched
concentrations. IR-transparent Cd12zZnzTe (z < 0.04) substrates,
with dislocation densities in the mid-104 cm22
range. It also allows the in situ growth of various
isotype and anisotype heterojunctions with tolerably
Crystal Growth Methods
low or negligible densities of misfit dislocations. This
The first growth methods for HgCdTe were bulk has led to an increasing number of bandgap-
growth. Liquid phase epitaxy (LPE) began to be engineered HgCdTe photodiode structures, such as
developed around 1975, followed by metalorganic dual-band or two-color detector arrays and Auger-
chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) and molecular suppressed photodiodes with the potential for greatly
beam epitaxy (MBE) in the early 1980s. Bulk growth, increased operating temperature.
LPE, MOCVD, and MBE techniques have been Sapphire and silicon are IR-transparent substrates
refined through the years, and each is still in use that are less costly, that are available in much larger
today. Each technique has found application for areas, and that are more rugged than CdTe and
certain types of HgCdTe devices. Bulk growth CdZnTe. Both sapphire and silicon can be used for
methods are used for production quantities of epitaxial growth of HgCdTe films with dislocation
n-type wafers, with diameters of 12 – 20 mm, for LW densities that are acceptably low (mid-106 cm22) for
and VLW photoconductive arrays, which are more many important photodiode applications, such as
tolerant of dislocations. LPE is in use today for for the MW and SW spectral ranges, and for the
production quantities of photovoltaic (PV) HgCdTe LW spectral range for high background photon
arrays, and has also been used for certain photo- fluxes. LPE growth of HgCdTeðx ¼ 0:4Þ is done on
conductive HgCdTe arrays. Vapor-phase epitaxy 3-inch diameter sapphire substrates with MOCVD-
(VPE) methods such as MBE and MOVPE are grown CdTe buffer layers. MBE growth of
in use for engineering and prototype quantities. HgCdTeðx ¼ 0:3Þ on 4-inch diameter (211) silicon
Both run-to-run reproducibility and control as substrates, with ZnTe/CdTe buffer layers, has recently
well as intra-wafer uniformity of HgCdTe alloy been reported.
398 SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS / Mercury Cadmium Telluride

Dielectric Constant the underlying HgCdTe for both electrons in the

conduction band and holes in the valence band.
The relatively low dielectric constant ð1S ¼ 1810 Þ of
Both mesa and planar photodiodes have been
HgCdTe, in contrast to those of PbTe and PbSnTe,
successfully passivated with CdTe. A wide variety
permits low junction capacitance. This is important
of methods has been reported for deposition of
for fast response in laser pulse detectors where small
CdTe passivating layers, including MBE, MOVPE,
R – C time constants are needed. It is also important
e-beam evaporation, sputtering, and hot wall
for suppressing preamplifier noise below the detector
epitaxy.
noise, and thereby achieving high detectivity (Dp), in
photodiodes operating at low temperature and low
background fluxes, where the junction resistance is
Electron-to-Hole Mobility Ratio
sufficiently high that the junction capacitance
becomes an important contribution to the junction The small values for the conduction band effective
impedance at frequencies of interest. mass ratio lead to large values for the electron mobi-
lity, as large as 4:5 £ 105 cm2 =V-s for x ¼ 0:195 at
77 K. The heavy hole effective mass ratio is quite
Surface Passivation large, approximately 0.5 for all alloy compositions,
leading to low values for the heavy hole mobility, on
Passivation of the exposed HgCdTe surfaces is critical
the order of 500 cm2/V-s. This gives large values for
for both device performance and long-term stability.
the electron-to-heavy hole mobility ratio, b, as high as
The favorable surface properties of HgCdTe have
1000 for x ¼ 0:194 at 77 K.
enabled practical surface passivation schemes to be
These large values of b were of great benefit to n-
developed for both n-type photoconductors and p-n
type HgCdTe photoconductors. Most such devices
junction photodiodes of both planar and mesa
have small active areas, on the order of 50 £ 50 mm2 ;
configurations.
and the drift length for minority carriers (holes)
n-type HgCdTe photoconductors are commonly
becomes comparable to the interelectrode spacing at
passivated with a native oxide that accumulates the
modest bias voltages. In this case, when the contacts
surface, resulting in surface recombination velocities
have a high recombination velocity, the photocon-
as low as 50 cm s21, along with low 1/f noise (knee
ductive gain saturates to the value b/2. High values of
frequencies less than 50 Hz). The surface accumu-
b in HgCdTe allowed sufficiently high photoconduc-
lation layer also provides a layer of surface electrons
tive gains to be achieved to raise the detector noise
with high mobility, though lower than the bulk
above the preamp noise, an essential condition for
electron mobility, such that the shunt conductance of
achieving BLIP sensitivity.
this layer is tolerably low compared to the bulk
conductance of the detector itself. Several methods
have been used for growing this native oxide,
including plasma deposition and electrochemical HgCdTe Infrared Detector
(anodic) oxidation.
Configurations
HgCdTe photovoltaic detectors require quite
different passivation because usually both n-type Three different types of infrared detectors can be
and p-type surfaces are exposed as well as the realized in the Hg12xCdxTe alloy semiconductor: the
depletion region. The CdTe/HgCdTe heterostructure photoconductive (PC) detector, the photodiode, also
is an important passivation for HgCdTe photovoltaic referred to as the photovoltaic (PV) detector, and the
detectors and arrays. CdTe passivation has enabled metal – insulator– semiconductor (MIS) detector.
arrays of HgCdTe photodiodes with negligible 1/f These are illustrated in Figure 4.
noise (knee frequencies less than 1 Hz), radiation In all three types of HgCdTe detector – PC, PV, and
hardness well in excess of the 20 – 40 kRad(Si) usually MIS – excess electron– hole pairs are photogenerated
encountered in Earth-resource space missions, and by the same mechanism: valence-to-conduction band
excellent stability to thermal bake and to exposure to absorption of infrared radiation with photon energy
moisture. greater than the bandgap energy EG. All three types
CdTe has a number of important advantages as a can achieve high quantum efficiencies, approaching
passivant for HgCdTe junctions. It is a ‘native’ 100% for well-designed devices. All three types have
passivant that is chemically compatible with the same fundamental recombination mechanisms
HgCdTe. Adhesion is excellent. The valence band (Auger-1 and radiative) that determine the highest
edge of CdTe is approximately 0.4 eV below that of possible operating temperature to achieve a given
HgTe, thereby allowing repulsive barriers to form in sensitivity (signal-to-noise ratio).
 SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS / Mercury Cadmium Telluride 399

Figure 4 Three different types of infrared detectors have been realized in the Hg12xCdxTe alloy semiconductor: the photoconductive
(PC) detector, the photodiode or the photovoltaic (PV) detector, and the metal–insulator– semiconductor (MIS) detector. HgCdTe PC
and PV detector arrays are being manufactured for a wide variety of applications. The MIS detector was abandoned in the mid-1980s
because it placed unachievable demands on material quality.

The differences among PC, PV, and MIS HgCdTe wall, thus limiting the practical number of PC
detectors are due to the way in which the photo- elements in an array to about 200 – 300.
generated electron –hole pairs are manifested elec- The basic HgCdTe photoconductor is a rectangular
trically in the terminal characteristics of the device. area, photolithographically defined in an n-type
In the PC detector, the excess electron– hole pairs HgCdTe layer approximately 8 –15 mm thick, with
are sensed as a small increase in the conductivity of two ohmic contacts on opposite edges. Surface
what is basically a two-terminal resistor. In the PV passivation is straightforward: a thin native oxide
detector, the excess electron– hole pairs are sensed as strongly accumulates the surface of n-type HgCdTe,
a photocurrent in a short-circuited p-n junction thereby reducing the surface recombination velocity
photodiode. In the MIS detector, the excess elec- to negligibly small values.
tron – hole pairs are sensed as a small change in the Many useful variations on the simple rectangular
voltage due to minority photocarriers filling a geometry are possible because of the favorable
transient charge storage well that has been biased material properties of HgCdTe. Several contact
to deep depletion. geometries have been devised to minimize the
recombination of photocarriers at the contacts.
Serpentine designs have been used to increase detector
PC HgCdTe Detectors resistance and reduce bias power dissipation,
especially important issues for large-area and very
The HgCdTe PC detector is a low-resistance
long-wavelength detectors. The SPRITE (signal pro-
two-terminal device. Resistances are typically
cessing in the element) design reduces the number of
25 –100 ohms per square. A dc bias current is applied
electrical connections and dewar leads for scanned
to convert the conductivity change to an observable
arrays by performing both detection and integration
voltage change. The device operates under near-
within an elongated HgCdTe bar.
equilibrium conditions, with small dc bias voltages
typically on the order of 0.1 V. The dc bias electric
field within the photoconductor is quite small,
PV HgCdTe Detectors
generally in the 20 – 50 V cm21 range. The low-
resistance device requires a low-noise bipolar pre- The HgCdTe photodiode is a more complicated
amplifier, usually external to the dewar. Each PC device than the photoconductor, requiring both
detector element requires one lead through the dewar n-type and p-type layers, and having a surface
400 SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS / Mercury Cadmium Telluride

depletion region that makes stringent demands on methods such as MBE and MOVPE. Surface passiva-
surface passivation technology. tion is generally accomplished by CdTe. The high-
The PV detector is a high-resistance p-n junction resistance PV device can match well with low-noise
device. The photodiode is operated very close to silicon CMOS preamplifiers that can be integrated
equilibrium conditions, either at zero bias voltage or with two-dimensional arrays to form large back-
at a small reverse bias voltage whose magnitude is illuminated hybrid focal plane arrays (FPAs). Typical
several kT, typically 20 – 30 mV. The absorber layer is array formats for HgCdTe FPAs are 256 £ 256 and
usually n-type HgCdTe about 5 – 15 mm thick, with 480 £ 640, and can be as large as 1024 £ 1024
the thicker values required for longer-wavelength and 2048 £ 2048.
radiation. A p-n junction is formed by a thin p-type
layer. A wide variety of junction formation methods
are used. Wide-gap-p on narrow-gap-n heterojunc- MIS HgCdTe Detectors
tions are formed by two-layer LPE. Planar p-on-n or The metal – insulator– semiconductor (MIS) detector,
n-on-p junctions are formed by arsenic or boron also referred to as a photocapacitor, is usually formed
implantation into n-type or p-type layers grown by on an n-type HgCdTe absorber layer. The insulator of
LPE or MBE. Vertical-geometry p-on-n junctions are choice is a thin native oxide. The gate electrode is a
formed by a damage mechanism during ion beam thin semitransparent metal film.
milling. Both single-junction and multijunction In contrast to the PC and PV detectors, the MIS
devices are grown in situ by vapor phase epitaxial detector operates in a strongly nonequilibrium mode.

Figure 5a Back-illuminated bump-interconnected HgCdTe FPA architecture. The SEM photo shows an LPE P-on-n HgCdTe mesa
photodiode array with 60 £ 60 mm2 unit cells and 33 £ 33 mm2 mesa (junction) areas.
 SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS / Mercury Cadmium Telluride 401

A bias voltage pulse of several volts is applied across detector element in the array has one electrical
the capacitor to drive the HgCdTe surface into deep connection to its matching input circuit node in the
depletion. Excess electron – hole pairs are photogen- silicon ROIC.
erated in the absorber layer and diffuse to the edge of The thermal expansion coefficient of HgCdTe is
the depletion region, where the holes are collected in sufficiently close to that of silicon to allow several
the charge well. After a period of time, called the technologically viable hybrid arrangements of
integration time, the voltage across the capacitor is HgCdTe detector arrays and silicon multiplexer chips.
sensed, giving a measure of how much charge was There are two main types of hybrid HgCdTe FPAs
collected, and the cycle is repeated. being developed and manufactured today: the back-
Because of the nonequilibrium operation of the illuminated bump-interconnected configuration,
MIS detector, much larger electric fields are set up in shown in Figure 5a, and the front-illuminated or
the depletion region than in the p-n junction, resulting ‘loophole’ configuration shown in Figure 5b. Each
in defect-related tunneling dark current that is orders configuration successfully solves the problem of the
of magnitude larger than the fundamental dark thermal expansion mismatch between silicon and
current. The MIS detector requires much higher HgCdTe in different ways, and each requires funda-
material quality than PV or PC detectors, which still mentally different HgCdTe photodiode designs and
has not been achieved. For this reason, all develop- processing.
ment of the HgCdTe MIS detector was abandoned in In the back-illuminated configuration, illustrated in
the mid-1980s.
Figure 5a, the HgCdTe detector array is bump-
mounted onto the silicon ROIC by cold-welded or
thermally reflowed indium interconnects. Incident
Two-Dimensional HgCdTe Infrared radiation reaches the detectors through an infrared-
Focal Plane Arrays transparent substrate such as CdTe, CdZnTe,
Among the most important applications of HgCdTe sapphire, or silicon.
are large two-dimensional electronically scanned In the front-illuminated (or ‘loophole’) FPA archi-
hybrid arrays, referred to as focal plane arrays tecture, shown in Figure 5b, the thin HgCdTe layer is
(FPAs). A hybrid HgCdTe FPA consists of a two- epoxied to the silicon ROIC chip, and undergoes
dimensional HgCdTe photovoltaic detector array elastic deformation when the FPA is cooled. This
that is interfaced electrically, thermally and mechani- allows large arrays to be made without need for
cally with a matching two-dimensional array of input engineering the thermal expansion of the silicon
circuits in a silicon CMOS ROIC chip. Each HgCdTe ROIC chip. Low-temperature processing techniques

Figure 5b Front-illuminated loophole HgCdTe FPA architecture. The SEM photo shows one corner of a FPA. The metalized via holes
are on 20 mm centers.
402 SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS / Mercury Cadmium Telluride

for junction formation and passivation are required MW Medium wavelength

because of the presence of the epoxy. MWIR Medium wavelength infrared
PC Photoconductive
PV Photovoltaic
Conclusions and Trends QWIP Quantum well infrared
photodetector
There has been enormous progress in HgCdTe ROIC Readout integrated circuit
material science and device technology over the SPRITE Signal processing in the element
past 45 years. This progress has been fueled by SW Short wavelength
the many military and space applications for which SWIR Short wavelength infrared
HgCdTe PC and PV infrared detectors provide VLW Very long wavelength
nearly ideal solutions. It is important to recognize VLWIR Very long wavelength infrared
that the progress so far in HgCdTe detector VPE Vapor phase epitaxy
technology has been possible only through advances
in basic materials growth and processing
technology.
Further progress can be expected. The fundamental See also
performance limits of HgCdTe photodiodes have not Semiconductor Physics: Band Structure and Optical
yet been reached. Continued reduction of material Properties; Impurities and Defects; Outline of Basic
defects, both grown-in and process-induced, will Electronic Properties.
reduce thermal generation rates, increase junction
impedance, and allow higher operating temperatures
for a number of important applications. Continued Further Reading
development of the in situ VPE growth methods –
Capper P (ed.) (1994) Properties of Narrow Gap Cadmium-
MBE and MOVPE – will allow bandgap-engineered
based Compounds. EMIS Datareviews Series No. 10.
heterojunction devices of increasing quality and London: INSPEC, Institution of Electrical Engineers.
complexity. Continued development of VPE growth Reviews and compilations of fundamental and
on alternative substrates such as silicon will reduce technological properties of HgCdTe and CdTe/CdZnTe/
the cost of two-dimensional arrays, and will make CdTeSe.
larger arrays practical. Capper P (ed.) (1997) Narrow-Gap II –VI Compounds for
Optoelectronic and Electromagnetic Applications.
London: Chapman and Hall. Twenty review chapters
List of Units and Nomenclature on growth techniques, materials characterization, and
BLIP Background limited infrared device applications of HgCdTe.
photodetector Capper P and Elliott CT (eds) (2000) Infrared Detectors
and Emitters: Materials and Devices. Boston, MA:
CdTe Cadmium telluride
Kluwer Academic Publishers. Review chapters on
CdZnTe Cadmium zinc telluride
HgCdTe materials, photoconductive and nonequilibrium
CMOS Complementary metal-oxide- HgCdTe detectors, photovoltaic HgCdTe detectors,
semiconductor and HgTe-CdTe superlattice detectors.
FPA Focal plane array Rogalski A, Adamiec K and Rutkowski J (2000) Narrow
HgCdTe Mercury cadmium telluride Gap Semiconductor Photodiodes. Washington, DC:
Hg12xCdxTe Mercury cadmium telluride SPIE Press.
IR Infrared Willardson RK and Beer AC (eds) (1981) Defects,
LPE Liquid phase epitaxy (Hg,Cd)Se, (Hg,Cd)Te. Semiconductors and Semi-
LW Long wavelength metals, vol. 16. New York: Academic Press. Review
LWIR Long wavelength infrared chapters on magneto-optical properties of HgCdTe and
nonlinear optical effects in HgCdTe.
MBE Molecular beam epitaxy
Willardson RK and Beer AC (eds) (1981) Mercury Cadmium
MCT Mercury cadmium telluride
Telluride. Semiconductors and Semimetals, vol. 18.
MIS Metal-insulator-semiconductor New York: Academic Press. Seven review chapters:
MOCVD Metal-organic chemical vapor history of HgCdTe, preparation of high-purity Hg, Cd
epitaxy and Te, crystal growth of HgCdTe, Auger recombination
MOVPE Metal-organic vapor phase in HgCdTe, and photoconductive, photovoltaic and
epitaxy metal-insulator-semiconductor HgCdTe detectors.