Development of Low Dark Current, High Quantum Efficiency 10 Micro Meters Arrays under the GOALI Program

这项建议利用了罗切斯特大学的红外天文学小组和罗克韦尔国际科学中心的红外阵列探测器小组在发展用于天文学的长波红外(LWIR)HgCdTe焦平面阵列方面正在进行的工作关系。罗克韦尔已经根据国防部的合同开发了长波红外HgCdTe阵列，这些阵列在大背景辐照度下运行。由于暗电流只需要比背景感应光电流小得多，这些DOD阵列没有非常严格的暗电流要求，并且在高温(80K)下运行。罗克韦尔公司开发了新的掩埋平面异质结(BPH)HgCdTe器件。利用该技术构建的低暗电流、高灵敏度的10微米波长阵列在低温(25K-30K)下具有广阔的应用前景。然而，还有各种技术障碍需要克服。在这些温度下，产生-复合(G-R)暗电流将主导扩散暗电流(在80K时占优势)，并且G-R电流随温度急剧下降。然而，在较低的温度下，可能会另外存在隧穿暗电流，并且量子效率会下降。这一努力将寻求生产不表现出隧道效应且具有优异量子效率的设备。碲镉汞有望在天文学和其他领域具有广泛的应用前景。

Abstract This proposal capitalizes on the on-going working relationship between the infrared astronomy group at the University of Rochester and the infrared array detector group at the Rockwell International Science Center in the development of long-wave infrared (LWIR) HgCdTe focal plane arrays for astronomy. Rockwell has developed LWIR HgCdTe arrays under DoD contracts that are operated with large background irradiance. Since the dark current need only be much less than the background induced photocurrent these DoD arrays do not have very stringent dark current requirements, and are operated at high temperatures (80K). Rockwell has developed new Buried Planar Heterojunction (BPH) HgCdTe devices. Low dark current, high sensitivity 10 micrometer wavelength arrays constructed by this technology are promising possibilities at low temperatures (25K - 30K). However, there are a variety of technical hurdles to overcome. At these temperatures generation-recombination (G- R) dark current will dominate diffusion dark current (prevalent at 80K), and G-R current drops precipitously with temperature. However, at the lower temperatures there can be tunneling dark current in addition, and a decline in quantum efficiency. This effort will seek to produce devices that do not exhibit tunneling and which have excellent quantum efficiency. HgCdTe is expected to have wide applicability to astronomy and other applications.