Progress, challenges, and opportunities for HgCdTe infrared materials and detectors

This article presents a review on the current status, challenges, and potential future development opportunities for HgCdTe infrared materials and detector technology. A brief history of HgCdTe infrared technology is firstly summarized and discussed, leading to the conclusion that HgCdTe-based infrared detectors will continue to be a core infrared technology with expanded capabilities in the future due to a unique combination of its favourable properties. Recent progress and the current status of HgCdTe infrared technology are reviewed, including material growth, device architecture, device processing, surface passivation, and focal plane array applications. The further development of infrared applications requires that future infrared detectors have the features of lower cost, smaller pixel size, larger array format size, higher operating temperature, and multi-band detection, which presents a number of serious challenges to current HgCdTe-based infrared technology. The primary challenges include well controlled p-type doping, lower cost, larger array format size, higher operating temperature, multi-band detection, and advanced plasma dry etching. Various new concepts and technologies are proposed and discussed that have the potential to overcome the existing primary challenges that are inhibiting the development of next generation HgCdTe infrared detector technology.