Defect Passivation for High Performance HgCdTe on Si

Hydrogen isotopes have been shown to reduce the electrical effects of various semiconductor defects. Specifically, monoatomic hydrogen and deuterium passivate the electrical activity of defects such as dislocations in long-wavelength HgCdTe grown on Si. We propose a novel method of controlling the intake of hydrogen in HgCdTe IRFPAs by using the H2/He plasma afterglow formed by flowing plasma-generated species outside the discharge area. The reduced reactivity of the afterglow plasma will maintain the IRFPA integrity while a nozzle specially designed to generate a supersonic flow and used to extract the hydrogen species increases the static pressure and axial velocity, thereby enhancing the uptake of passivants.