Arsenic-doped mid-wavelength infrared HgCdTe photodiodes

The recently developed Te-rich, liquid-phase-epitaxy growth technology for low arsenic-doped mid-wavelength infrared (MWIR) HgCdTe with p-type doping concentrations <10¹⁵ cm⁻³ has enabled the fabrication of n⁺/p photodiodes using the damage associated with a boron ion implantation. The diode properties are presented and compared to similar diodes fabricated in p-HgCdTe doped with Group IBs. The attraction of the arsenic-doped diode technology is associated with the fact that the arsenic resides on the Te sublattice and is immune to the Hg interstitial fluxes that are present in the diode-formation process. This leads to minimal diode spread, limited primarily to the n⁺ region and, hence, a potential for use in really high-density infrared focal planes. At the same time, the Hg interstitials generated in the diode-formation process should purge the photodiode volume of fast diffusing species, resulting in a high-quality, diode-depletion region devoid of many Shockley-Read recombination centers. These aspects of diode formation in this material are discussed.     

Junction Stability in Ion-Implanted Mercury Cadmium Telluride

Ion implantation into HgCdTe results in the production of Hg interstitials, which can be subsequently driven into the HgCdTe by an annealing process. This diffusive drive-in of the Hg interstitials fills vacancies and kicks out group I impurities and results in the formation of an n–p junction. In this work we report on the production of interstitials during baking subsequent to the ion implantation process. Various concentrations of metal vacancies were first introduced into mid-wavelength infrared (MWIR, 3 μm to 5 μm) HgCdTe by annealing under tellurium-saturated conditions at various temperatures. Baking subsequent to planar implantation of boron produced n–p junctions whose depths were measured by defect etching. The results were modeled using a simple diffusion limited model from a fixed surface concentration. The surface concentration was allowed to decrease exponentially to zero after a time, found to be of the order of ∼80 h to 150 h. Exhaustion of the interstitials sources produced by the implantation was nearly complete after ∼400 h. The total number of mercury interstitials produced was approximately 50% of the implant dosage.     

Hot-implantation of nitrogen donors into p- type α-SiC and characterization of n+-p junction

N⁺ implantation into p-type a-SiC (6H-SiC, 4H-SiC) epilayers at elevated temperatures was investigated and compared with implantation at room temperature (RT). When the implant dose exceeded 4 × 10₁₅ cm₋₂, a complete amorphous layer was formed in RT implantation and severe damage remained even after post implantation annealing at 1500°C. By employing hot implantation at 500~800°C, the formation of a complete amorphous layer was suppressed and the residual damage after annealing was significantly reduced. For implant doses higher than 10¹⁵ cm⁻², the sheet resistance of implanted layers was much reduced by hot implantation. The lowest sheet resistance of 542Ω/ was obtained by implantation at 500 ~ 800°C with a 4 × 10¹⁵ cm⁻² dose. Characterization of n⁺-p junctions fabricated by N⁺ implantation into p-type epilayers was carried out in detail. The net doping concentration in the region close to the junction showed a linearly graded profile. The forward current was clearly divided into two components of diffusion and recombination. A high breakdown voltage of 615 ∼ 810V, that is almost an ideal value, was obtained, even if the implant dose exceeded 10¹⁵ cm⁻². By employing hot implantation at 800°C, the reverse leakage current was significantly reduced.     

Voltage dependence of the differential capacitance of a p +-n junction

The dependences of the differential capacitance and current of a p ⁺-n junction with a uniformly doped n region on the voltage in the junction region are calculated. The p ⁺-n junction capacitance controls the charge change in the junction region taking into account a change in the electric field of the quasi-neutral n region and a change in its bipolar drift mobility with increasing excess charge-carrier concentration. It is shown that the change in the sign of the p ⁺-n junction capacitance with increasing injection level is caused by a decrease in the bipolar drift mobility as the electron-hole pair concentration in the n region increases. It is shown that the p ⁺-n junction capacitance decreases with increasing reverse voltage and tends to a constant positive value.     

Process modeling of point defect effects in Hg1-xCdxTe

A model is presented which describes the motion of and interactions among some of the native point defects and foreign impurities in Hg_1-xCd_xTe. Semi-quantitative simulations of typical process problems are performed for cases where only Hg interstitials, Hg vacancies, and cation impurities are important. Results for the formation of n-on-p junctions by the Hg anneal of high vacancy concentration material, indicate that junction depths may be a significant function of the n-type dopant concentration. For the case where low vacancy, n-type material is annealed in a Hg-poor ambient, simulation results confirm the difficulty in forming a high quality, well-defined p-on-n junction. This difficulty arises because of the generation of Hg vacancy/interstitial pairs throughout the bulk during most of the process. It is demonstrated that impurity gettering can be described by our modeling approach. All simulation results attempted to date are consistent with the available experimental data.     

Numerical analysis on abnormal thyristor forward voltage increase due to heavy doping in gated p-base layer

An abnormal forward voltage increase was observed for a p-base gated double diffused n⁺pn^?p⁺ high power thyristor with high impurity concentration at the n⁺-p emitter-base junction. Accurate numerical analysis shows that heavy doping effects are the most responsible mechanism for the abnormality and that depletion layer formation at the center junction accompanies it.It will be shown that appropriate control of the impurity concentration at the emitter-base junction is necessary to avoid this abnormality by realizing the common base transistor current gain of greater than 0.73 for n⁺n^?-portion.     

Law of the junction for degenerate material with position-dependent band gap and electron affinity

The general density-voltage relations at the boundaries of the space-charge region of a degenerate n⁺-p junction with position-dependent band structure are derived. The results are valid for a variety of materials including graded composition semiconductors, heterojunctions, and devices with high doping.The following special cases of interest are considered: nondegenerate limit, rigid band model, uniform band structure and the classical case. The effect of carrier degeneracy in materials with parabolic uniform band structure is discussed in detail. In this case, for most junction voltages, a linear relationship is shown to exist between the actual minority carrier density and the values predicted by the classical theory. There is a significant departure from classical results. A plot for a correction factor as a function of doping is also given.     

On the forward current-voltage characteristics of p+-n-n+ (n+-p-p+) epitaxial diodes

The forward-biased current-voltage characteristics of p⁺-n-n⁺ and n⁺-p-p⁺ epitaxial diodes are derived theoretically. Effects of the energy-gap shrinkage, the high-low junction built-in voltage, the high-level injection, and the minority-carrier life time on the forward-biased current-voltage characteristics are included. Good agreements between the theoretically derived results and the experimental data of Dutton et al. are obtained. The developed theory predicts that the leakage of the high-low junction is dominated by the recombination of minority carriers in the highly doped substrate, not by the recombination of minority carriers in the high-low space charge region, which is opposite to the previous prediction of Dutton et al.     

Modeling of junction formation and drive-in in ion implanted HgCdTe

N-on-p junction formation and drive-in in ion implanted Hg_0.8Cd_0.2Te photodiodes have been studied. A model of the junction formation and drive-in processes has been developed that accounts for the variations in injected Hg interstitial concentration, background point defect and extrinsic doping levels, sample geometry, and annealing conditions. The limiting mechanisms controlling junction drive-in were investigated using the model. Experimental data showed the junction drive-in rate was proportional to the square root of time, indicating a diffusion limited process. The diffusion limited process is the result of a solubility limit for the Hg interstitial concentration. This limit is approximately the same value as that obtained for Hg interstitials in Hg saturated Hg_0.8Cd_0.2Te in type conversion and self-diffusion experiments (D_IC_I = 1.43 × 10₁₃exp(−.457 eV/ kT)*P_Hg).     

Impact of the As dose in 0.35 μm EEPROM technology: characterization and modeling

The core of the EEPROM memory cell is the tunnel oxide grown on an n⁺ implant named “capacitor implant” which also electrically connects the cell drain. Different implant doses have been performed to optimize the cell junction characteristics in a 0.35 μm EEPROM technology. The impact on the quality and electrical characteristics of the tunnel oxide is hereafter analyzed. Furthermore, a modeling is presented, giving estimation of the oxide thickness and substrate superficial doping with a good correlation of these last values with SIMS measurements. As expected, a linear relation between the implant dose and the superficial doping has been found.     

Monte Carlo simulation of boron implantation into single-crystalsilicon

An improved Monte Carlo simulation model has been developed for boron implantation into single-crystal silicon. This model is based on the Marlowe Monte Carlo code and contains significant improvements for the modeling of ion implantation, including a newly developed local electron concentration-dependent electronic stopping model and a newly developed cumulative damage model. These improvements allow the model to reliably predict boron implant profiles not only as a function of energy, but also as a function of other important implant parameters such as tilt angle, rotation angle, and dose. In addition, profiles of implant generated point defects (silicon interstitials and vacancies) can be calculated     

Laser beam induced current imaging of reactive ion etching induced n-type doping in HgCdTe

The nondestructive optical characterization technique of laser beam induced current (LBIC) has been used to illustrate the effects of reactive ion etching (RIE) of mid-wavelength infrared n-type HgCdTe. RIE may be used as a method of n-p junction formation, as a means of forming n⁺ ohmic contacts to wider bandgap HgCdTe, or for mesa isolation etching of epilayers for HgCdTe detectors and emitters. Along with experimental measurements of the LBIC phenomena, this paper introduces the simulation of LBIC signals using a commercial semiconductor device modeling package. A number of LBIC maps are presented for different wafer processing conditions, with the results being explained using the simulation software. The experimental and calculated results bring to light a number of previously unreported characteristics associated with the LBIC phenomena, including the effect of junction depth, temperature, and grading of the junction region. In addition to the LBIC technique confirming the presence of an n⁺ region after RIE processing, it also provides information regarding the depth of the n⁺ region and lateral extent of the doping.     

Doping and temperature dependences of minority-carrier diffusion length and lifetime deduced from the spectral response measurements of p-N junction solar cells

The minority-carrier diffusion length in the base region of p⁺?n (n⁺?p) junction solar cells has been deduced from the relative spectral response in the long wavelength. The doping and temperature dependences of minority-carrier diffusion length have also been characterized. It has been shown that the minority-carrier diffusion length is slightly increased with increasing temperature and is decreased with increasing doping concentration. Based on the known minority-carrier diffusivity as functions of doping concentration and temperature, the doping and temperature dependences of minority-carrier lifetimes have been deduced. It has been verified that the empirical relationship between minority-carrier lifetime and doping concentration deduced by other method is in good agreements with our experimental measurements. Moreover, it has been shown that the minority-carrier lifetime is increased with increasing temperature, which is consistent with that measured by the open-circuit voltage decay (OCVD) method.     

Electron-beam-induced conductivity in self-organized silicon quantum wells

Electron-beam diagnostics are used to study self-organized quantum wells which form within ultrashallow silicon p ⁺-n junctions under the conditions of nonequilibrium boron diffusion. The energy dependence and current-voltage characteristics of the electron-beam-induced conductivity are investigated with relative dominance of both longitudinal and transverse quantum wells, which are oriented parallel and perpendicularly to the p-n junction plane, respectively. Current-voltage characteristics of the electron-beam-induced conductivity are exhibited for the first time with both reverse and forward biasing of the silicon p ⁺-n junction. This became possible because of the presence of self-organized transverse quantum wells within the ultrashallow p ⁺ diffusion profile, while self-organized longitudinal quantum wells promote the appearance of electron-beam-induced conductivity only when the p ⁺-n junction is reverse-biased. The distribution of the probability for the separation of electron-hole pairs across the thickness of the crystal derived from the energy dependences of the electron-beam-induced conductivity reveals effects of the avalanche multiplication of the nonequilibrium carriers as a result of the spatial separation of electrons and holes in the field of a p ⁺-n junction that contains self-organized transverse quantum wells. Fiz. Tekh. Poluprovodn. 33, 851–857 (July 1999)     

A low-high-junction solar-cell model developed for use in tandem cell analysis

A comprehensive low-high (L-H) junction solar cell model has been developed. It accounts for actual solar spectrum related photogeneration of carriers in all regions of the n-p-p⁺ cell and allows for any value of rear surface-recombination-velocity (SRV). In typical GaAs L-H junction solar cells, photogeneration in the p⁺ region, but not the p region, is found to be negligible. The L-H junction's space-charge-layer recombination current density is also negligible. Assigning a non-infinite value of rear surface SRV makes this model applicable to tandem multi-junction structures made from materials with different band gaps.     

Theory of switching in p-n-insulator (tunnel)-metal devices: Part I: Punchthrough mode

The four-layered structure (M-I(leaky)-n-p⁺) is found to exhibit a current-controlled negative resistance region in its I-V characteristics. In this paper, a quantitative physical model of the device in the punch-through mode is presented. The negative resistance behaviour is due to a positive feedback mechanism between the tunnel MIS and the n-p⁺ junction parts of the device. The effect of the device parameters on its I-V characteristics is studied.     

Drift-diffusion theory of symmetrical double-junction diodes

Using numerical methods, we have calculated the current-voltage characteristics, energy contours and carrier distributions of a symmetrical double junction diode (n⁺nn⁺ and n⁺pn⁺). It is found that the I-V characteristics at low currents and voltages depend greatly on the doping concentration of the base region; at hihg currents, they do not. In that regime, the characteristics bunch together, and can be approximated with remarkable fidelity by the Mott-Gurney law for space-charge controlled conduction in solids. Characteristics are presented for different impurity densities and base widths.     

Generation-recombination and diffusion currents in HgMnTe n +-p junctions

Special features of the distributions of the space charge, the electric-field strength, and potential in the p-n junction in the narrow-gap HgMnTe semiconductor were considered using the Poisson equation. It is shown that, as the band gap narrows, the effect of free charge carriers induces the coordinate dependence of electric-field strength to deviate from the linear dependence and that of the potential to deviate from the quadratic dependence. As a result of this, and also because of an appreciable increase in the diffusion potential in the n ⁺-p junction with the degenerate n ⁺ region, the mechanisms of the charge transport become peculiar: the voltage dependence of the recombination current deviates from those following from the conventionally used analytical expressions, whereas for higher bias voltages, the diffusion current of holes from the lightly doped p region into the n ⁺ region is prevalent.     

Formation and propagation of p-n junction in p-(HgCd)Te caused by dry etching

The extended model describing the formation and propagation of a converted n-type layer in p-(HgCd)Te during dry etching (DE) based on the ultrafast diffusion of Hg interstitials and their recombination with Hg vacancies is presented. A couple of one- and two-dimensional equations are solved numerically to characterize the kinetics of the p-n junction. The time dependence of the p-n junction depth and ratio of lateral extension under the shielding mask to the depth of the p-n junction are calculated considering a detailed initial condition of the Hg-interstitial surface source.