MTF Issues in Small-Pixel-Pitch Planar Quantum IR Detectors

The current trend in quantum infrared (IR) detector development is the design of very small-pixel-pitch large arrays. From the previous 30 μm pitch, the standard pixel pitch today is 15 μm and is expected to decrease to 12 μm in the next few years. Furthermore, focal-plane arrays (FPAs) with pixel pitch as small as 10 μm have been demonstrated. Such ultrasmall-pixel pitches are very small compared with the typical length ruling the electrical characteristics of the absorbing materials, namely the minority-carrier diffusion length. As an example, for low-doped n-type HgCdTe or InSb material, this diffusion length is on the order of 30 μm to 50 μm, i.e., three to five times the targeted pixel pitches. This has strong consequences for the modulation transfer function (MTF) of planar structures, where the lateral extension of the photodiode is limited by diffusion. For such aspect ratios, the self-confinement of neighboring diodes may not be efficient enough to maintain an optimal MTF. Therefore, this issue has to be addressed to take full advantage of the pixel pitch reduction in terms of image resolution. The aim of this work is to investigate the evolution of the MTF of HgCdTe and InSb FPAs when decreasing the pixel pitch below 15 μm. Both experimental measurements and finite-element simulations are used to discuss this issue. Different scenarios are compared, namely deep mesa etch between pixels, internal drift, surface recombination, and thin absorbing layers.