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Off-Area Bonding of HgCdTe Photoconductive Infrared Detectors using Tri-Layer Photolithography and Wet/Dry Etching Techniques

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 February 2011

Sridhar Manthripragada ,
Kelley Hu ,
Frank Peters ,
Andre Burgess ,
Sachidananda Babu ,
Jack Shi ,
Danny Krebs ,
D. Brent Mott  and
Peter Shu
Sridhar Manthripragada
Affiliation:
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 718, Greenbelt, MD 20771
Kelley Hu
Affiliation:
Hughes STX Corp., Lanham, MD 20706
Frank Peters
Affiliation:
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 718, Greenbelt, MD 20771
Andre Burgess
Affiliation:
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 718, Greenbelt, MD 20771
Sachidananda Babu
Affiliation:
Ball Aerospace and Technology Corp., Broomfield, CO 80038
Jack Shi
Affiliation:
Hughes STX Corp., Lanham, MD 20706
Danny Krebs
Affiliation:
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 718, Greenbelt, MD 20771
D. Brent Mott
Affiliation:
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 718, Greenbelt, MD 20771
Peter Shu
Affiliation:
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 718, Greenbelt, MD 20771
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Abstract

On-area wire bonding of HgCdTe photoconductive (PC) infrared detectors usually causes material damage underneath the bonding pads. Such damage may propagate into the active area, potentially degrading performance and posing long-term reliability problems. Some off-area bonding fabrication techniques can also induce some degree of semiconductor material damage. In this paper, we report a relatively straightforward off-area bonding scheme that solves these problems. The process uses multiple photolithography and chemical etching steps to create a continuous slope or staircase in the HgCdTe leading down to the epoxy surface. The staircase ensures smooth step coverage for the subsequent metalization. Tri-layer photolithography (resist /metal/resist) and reactive ion etching (RIE) is then used to remove the epoxy in the bonding pad area. Since all areas other than the pad region are protected by the metal film, no RIE radiation damage is induced to the active area. The contact metalization is achieved by using standard liftoff techniques. Our so called staircase off-area bonding fabrication technique can be used to fabricate highly reliable, high density, small-size, detector arrays.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 450: Symposium O – Infrared Applications of Semiconductors , 1996 , 301
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1997

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References

REFERENCES

1. Martineau, R., Hu, K., Manthripragada, S., Kotecki, C., Babu, S., Peters, F., Burgess, A., Mott, D., Krebs, D., Graham, S., Ewin, A., Miles, A., Bly, V., Nguyen, T., McCloskey, J., and Shu, P. in HgCdTe Detector Technology and Performance for the Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS)/Cassini Mission, edited by Horn, L., (SPIE Proc. 2803, Denver, CO, 1996) pp. 178–186.Google Scholar
2. Martineau, R., Hu, K., Manthripragada, S., Shi, J., Kotecki, C., Peters, F., Burgess, A., Krebs, D., Johnson, R., Mott, D., and Shu, P. in High Performance HgCdTe Infrared Detectors for the GOES Long-Wave Sounder, edited by Washwell, E.R., (SPIE Proc. 2812, Denver, CO, 1996) pp. 490–500.Google Scholar