Solar-blind AlGaN 256×256 p-i-n detectors and focal plane arrays

This paper reports the development of aluminum-gallium nitride (AlGaN or Al_xGa_1-xN) photodiode technology for high-operability 256×256 hybrid Focal Plane Arrays (FPAs) for solar-blind ultraviolet (UV) detection in the 260-280 nm spectral region. These hybrid UV FPAs consist of a 256×256 back-illuminated AlGaN p-i-n photodiode array, operating at zero bias voltage, bump-mounted to a matching 256×256 silicon CMOS readout integrated circuit (ROIC) chip. The unit cell size is 30×30 μm². The photodiode arrays were fabricated from multilayer AlGaN films grown by MOCVD on 2" dia. UV-transparent sapphire substrates. Improvements in AlGaN material growth and device design enabled high quantum efficiency and extremely low leakage current to be achieved in high-operability 256×256 p-i-n photodiode arrays with cuton and cutoff wavelengths of 260 and 280 nm, placing the response in the solar-blind wavelength region (less than about 280 nm) where solar radiation is heavily absorbed by the ozone layer. External quantum efficiencies (at V=0, 270 nm, no antireflection coating) as high as 58% were measured in back-illuminated devices. A number of 256×256 FPAs, with the AlGaN arrays fabricated from films grown at three different facilities, achieved response operabilities as high as 99.8%, response nonuniformities (σ/μ) as low as 2.5%, and zero-bias resistance median values as high as 1×10¹⁶ ohm, corresponding to R0A products of 7×10¹⁰ ohm-cm². Noise Equivalent Irradiance (NEI) data were measured on these FPAs. Median NEI values at 1 Hz are 250-500 photons/pixel-s, with best-element values as low as 90 photons/pixel-s at 1 Hz.