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The Use of Hydrogen for Defect Reduction in Large Format Infrared Detector…

Award Information

Agency:
Department of Defense 		Branch:
Missile Defense Agency 		Award ID:
 Program Year/Program:
2011 / STTR
Agency Tracking Number:
B11A-002-0015 		Solicitation Year:
2011 		Solicitation Topic Code:
MDA11-T002 		Solicitation Number:
2011.A
Small Business Information
Amethyst Research Incorporated
123 Case Circle Ardmore, OK -
View profile »
Woman-Owned: No
Minority-Owned: No
HUBZone-Owned: No
 
Phase 1
Fiscal Year: 2011
Title: The Use of Hydrogen for Defect Reduction in Large Format Infrared Detector Materials
Agency / Branch: DOD / MDA
Contract: HQ0147-11-C-7672
Award Amount: $149,842.00
 

Abstract:

Active defects negatively impact the performance of IRFPAs by increasing noise at various levels up to, and including, catastrophic degradation. Evidence indicates that"killer defects"are related to the interaction of open core screw dislocations with impurities that remain after substrate preparation, prior to HgCdTe growth. This impurity diffusion creates a conducting channel that shorts the junction. The effectiveness of atomic hydrogen for low-temperature cleaning, overlayer removal and stoichiometry recovery for etched semiconductor surfaces has been demonstrated. We will extend this to CdZnTe and Ge substrates and demonstrate cleaning of HgCdTe after process etch steps. Additionally ARI has demonstrated a method for introducing hydrogen into the FPA epilayer during processing. The hydrogen migrates into the HgCdTe and attaches to dislocations and yield-limiting defects, effectively passivating the defect with improvement in both operability and yield. We will use ARI"s process to develop a practical method introducing hydrogen cleaning into HgCdTe processing to produce clean, stoichiometric surfaces prior to growth and passivation while providing hydrogen passivation to mitigate the effect of remaining defects. This will achieve the overall objective of significantly improving operability by reducing defects and dislocations in large format infrared detector materials while also hydrogenating to improve operability.

Principal Investigator:

Ryan Cottier
Research Scientist
(580) 229-7109
cottier@amethystresearch.com

Business Contact:

Todd Speaks
Comptroller
(580) 226-2751
accounts@amethystresearch.com
Small Business Information at Submission:

Amethyst Research Incorporated
123 Case Circle Ardmore, OK -

EIN/Tax ID: 562472936
DUNS: N/A
Number of Employees:
Woman-Owned: Yes
Minority-Owned: Yes
HUBZone-Owned: No
Research Institution Information:
Northeastern University
360 Huntington Ave
342 Snell Engineering Center
Boston, MA 02115-
Contact: Katherine Ziemer
Contact Phone: (617) 373-2990