Lattice Matched Substrates for Mercury Cadmium Telluride growth by MBE

In the Phase I program, EPIR Technologies successfully developed lapping, polishing, and cleaning protocols for 2 cm x 2 cm Cd0.96Zn0.04Te wafers for the molecular beam epitaxial (MBE) growth of HgCdTe. The implementation of a custom engineered EpiTEK™ crystal polishing machine in this Phase I program allowed EPIR to establish process limits for reproducibly polishing CdZnTe to MBE standards. The development of CdZnTe wafer engineering protocols resulted in highly planar polished substrates, with surface roughness values comparable to the state of the art, as measured by AFM. In the proposed Phase II program, EPIR will develop the Phase I “proof of concept” to manufacturing, while continuously working towards the advancement of the CdZnTe preparation process to go beyond the current state of the art. To sustain a commercially viable manufacturing process, EPIR will initiate the development of on-site CdZnTe boule slicing facilities to lower production costs and expand process quality control. EPIR also proposes to investigate innovative CdZnTe engineering processes to develop epi-ready substrate surfaces for MBE growth. Finally, EPIR proposes several innovative improvements to the á-prototype EpiTEK™ system to support the proposed manufacturing process for the batch production of large area CdZnTe substrates.