COUNTERDOPED HIGH TEMPERATURE SILICON ARRAY INFRARED DETECTOR

INFRARED DETECTORS OF HIGH QUANTUM EFFICIENCY ARE LIMITED TO OPERATING TEMPERATURES LOWER THAN 60K. THIS PROPOSAL PRESENTS A COUNTERDOPED DETECTOR WHICH WILL OPERATE ABOVE LIQUID NITROGEN TEMPERATURE AND THUS REDUCE THE SIZE AND WEIGHT OF THE COOLING SYSTEM USED FOR THE DETECTOR IN AN EARTH-ORBITING SPACECRAFT. THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS PHASE I PROGRAM WILL BE TO DEVELOP EXPERIMENTAL AND THEORETICAL CONFIRMATION THAT THE COUNTERDOPED (BORON-DIVACANCY) INFRARED DETECTOR WILL PRODUCE A HIGH BLIP TEMPERATURE INFRARED DETECTOR FOR THE 3-5 MICRON WINDOW. FLOAT ZONE SILICON CRYSTALS ARE GROWN WITH BORON LEVELS IN THE RANGE OF 1X10 TO THE 16TH POWER - 1X10 TO THE 17TH POWER ATOMS/CM(3). ELECTRON BEAM IRRADIATION WITH 2 MEV ELECTRONS WILL CREATE DIVACANCIES. HEAT TREATMENT, TO ANNEAL CRYSTALLINE DAMAGE AND YET NOT DESTROY THE DIVACANCY, WILL BE PERFORMED AND PHOTOCONDUCTIVITY SAMPLES FABRICATED. ANALYSIS (EXPERIMENTAL AND THEORETICAL) OF THE SILICON SLICES WILL BE PERFORMED AT EACH STEP IN PROCESSING TO UNDERSTAND THE PROPERTIES OF THE COUNTERDOPED SYSTEM AND TO VERIFY THE USEFULNESS OF THIS CONFIGURATION AS A HIGH BLIP TEMPERATURE 3-5 MICRON INFRARED DETECTOR. ARRAY STRUCTURES MAY BE DEVELOPED USING ION IMPLANTATION TECHNIQUES. THE ION IMPLANTATION APPROACH PRODUCES A UNIFORM SUBSTRATE FOR ARRAY CONSTRUCTION AND INSURES REPRODUCIBILITY OF RESPONSE WITH AN ARRAY AND BETWEEN ARRAYS.