1

New Materials and Designs

of Semiconductor Detectors
New developments are driven by particle physics
and applications in:
Medical & Synchrotron X-ray Imaging
Nuclear Medicine - -Ray Detection
Astronomy - X-ray Detection
Non-destructive testing

Need to improve performance & reduce the dose.

Risto Orava June 2002

For high performance detectors material
1

technologies are combined with device

engineering and instrument design.
Material Technology Device Engineering Instrument Design
Rad hard Si-detectors, Slicing, dicing Modality
Chemical etching -energies
Oxygenated Si Polishing Packaging
Crystalline Compound Metallization Operating environment:
Semiconductors: CdTe, Electrode deposition Temperature
Metal sputtering Radiation
CdZnTe,... Surface passivation Electronic noise
High Purity Epitaxial Contact technologies: Mechanical stresses
Materials: SiC, GaAs,... Ohmic vs. blocking Resolution
Polycrystalline CVD contacts DQE
Materials: Diamond,... Uni-polar devices MTF
Large Area Flip-chip bonding Frame rate
Polycrystalline 3D-structures Fill factor
Materials: a-Si, a-Se,
CdTe, HgI,...
 I Material Technology
Need high purity, homogenous, defect-free material
High Z
Large enough band gap
Small enough band gap
High intrinsic product - the carrier drift length, E (=carrier mobility, =carrier lifetime, E the applied electric
High purity, homogenous, no defects
High surface resistivity
Material manufacturing
1
- small radiation length Xo for high QE (X o = 716.4gcm-2A/[Z(Z+1)ln(287/Z)])
- high resistivity (> 109 cm) and low leakage current for low noise
operation (high resistivity is achieved in high band gap materials with small intrinsic charge carrier
concentrations and by controlling the extrinsic and intrinsic defects to pin Fermi-level near mid-gap)
- small electron-hole ionization energy (< 5eV) (in general, need a minimum band gap
of 1.5eV to control thermally generated currents and losses in energy resolution & noise. With
sufficiently high - and stable - number of e-h pairs the S/N -ratio is high.
field. Charge collection is determined by the fraction of detector thickness traversed by the photo-
generated electrons and holes during the collection time. In the ideal case the carrier drift length
would be much longer than the detector thickness for complete charge collection. This is possible for
electrons but, most often, not for the holes. This broadens the photopeak and worsens the resolution.)
- good charge transport properties (low leakage currents, no conductive short circuits
between the detector contacts - single crystals for avoiding grain boundaries and other extended
defects)
- low noise due to surface conductivity (the surfaces should be stable to prevent
increased surface leakage currents with time, the electric field lines should not terminate at the non-
contacted surfaces for complete charge collection and for preventing build-up of surface charges)
- growth method vs. yield (stochiometry, ingot-to-ingot variations, doping, compensation,
elimination of large defects, crystal size, quality control, cost)
 1

Why compound semiconductors?

Uniqueness of compound semiconductors
Band gap engineering
Heterostructure devices
Hg1-xCdxTe : -0.25 ~ 1.6 eV
AlxGa1-xAs :
AlAs : 2.16 eV, indirect
GaAs : 1.43 eV, direct
Larger electron and/or hole mobility
Good for high speed (high frequency) devices
Direct band gap materials
Optoelectronic devices (lasers, LEDs)
Compound semiconductor processing
Cost
Compound material growth is not cheap.
Difficulty of fabrication (example: GaAs,...)
Doping
Some dopants are amphoteric. (Donor in the Ga site and acceptor in the As site).
Oxidation
Ge2O3 and As2O3 : oxidation rates are different.
 1

Semiconductors -classification
semiconductors

electronic mixed ionic

semiconductors conductors conductors

intrinsic extrinsic
semiconductors semiconductors

n-type p-type Requirements for sensors:

extrinsic extrinsic band gap 1-6 eV
n- or p-type conduction covalent
no ionic conduction bonding

chemical and thermal stability

solubility of dopants in host
lattice
Elemental and compound semiconductors are 1

in everyday use.
II III IV V VI VII
Be B C N O F
Mg Al Si P S Cl
Ca Zn Ga Ge As Se Br
Sr Cd In Sn Sb Te I

p-type n-type
dopants for Si and Ge

Elementary semiconductors Si, Ge

IV Compounds SiC, SiGe
Binary III-V Compounds AlP, AlAs, AlSb, GaP, GaAs, GaSb, InP, InAs, InSb
Binary II-VI Compounds ZnS, ZnSe, ZnTe, CdS, CdSe, CdTe

Si rectifiers, transistors, ICs

Ge early transistors and diodes
Compounds high-speed devices, light absorption applications
GaAs, GaP LEDs
ZnS fluorescent - TV screens
InSb, CdSe, PbTe, HgCdTe light detectors
Si, Ge IR and ionizing radiation detectors
GaAs, InP microwaves (the Gunn diode)
GaAs, AlGaAs,... semiconductor lasers
 1

Elemental & Compound Semiconductors

Elemental Compound semiconductors no. of electrons

IV-IV bonding III-V bonding II-VI bonding per unit

C 6
SiC 10
Si AlP 14
GeSi AlAs, GaPZnS 23
Ge AlSb,GaAs,InP ZnSe,CdS 32
GaSb, InAs ZnTe, CdSe,HgS 41
Sn InSb CdTe,HgSe 50
HgTe 66

atomic bonding forces become more ionic

 1

Elemental and compound semiconductors have

crystalline, polycrystalline or amorphous
structure.

Crystalline Solids: Atoms are arranged in a periodic fashion

Amorphous solids: No periodic structure at all
Polycrystalline: Many small regions of single-crystal material

Lattice: The periodic arrangement of atoms in a crystal

Basic Lattice: simple cubic, body-centered cubic, face-centered
cubic
Miller Indices: The smallest set of integers (h,l,m) proportional
to (1/a, 1/b,1/c)
Crystal Growth: Czochralski Si, Floating-Zone Si, High Pressure
Bridgman (HPB), Travelling Heater Method (THM),
Modified Markov Techique (MMT)...
Epitaxy:
 1

Crystalline Solids Polycrystalline

Silicon is the most widespread semi- Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) has a zinc-blend
conductor used for digital electronics. structure, which is a superstructure of
Si is cheap, abundant, structurally robust the diamond structures.
and environmentally harmless.

Amorphous: No periodic structure

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Lattice symmetry is essential: atomic shells electron energy bands

Energy gap between valence and conduction bands.

Dope material with nearby valence atoms:

donor atoms n-type
acceptor atoms p-type

Dopants provide shallow doping levels (normally ionized at room temperature)

conduction band occupied at room temperature
NB strong T dependence

Two basic devices: p-n diode, MOS capacitor

Se
 1

Detector Structure
E
conduction electron
band -
Band h Reverse biased!
gap
Electron-hole
generation
+
valence
band hole

Si: Eg = 1.1 eV, c= 1130 nm

Simple detector: conductivity

increase of semiconductor
when illuminated. P-I-N photo-detector: low dark
current, quick response.
Zinc Blende Semiconductors
sphalerite (ZnS) structure: like diamond
only involving two different types of atoms

note no atom of an element is bonded to

another of the same element

13 14 15 16 17
Similar shading
B C N O F indicates
complementary
11 12 Al Si P S Cl pairs that preserve
the total valence
Cu Zn Ga Ge As Se Br electron count for
AZ stoichiometry.
Ag Cd In Sn Sb Te I In the zinc blende
structure each AZ
atom is four
Au Hg Tl Pb Bi Po At coordinate.
 1

Compound semiconductor properties - Elemental

Material Properties at Room Temperature (295K) Ge
Xo(cm) (g/cm3) Eg(eV) (cm) ee(cm2/V) hh(cm2/V)
Diamond(IV) 12 3.51 5.5 >10 11 210-3 <1.610-3

Ge(IV) 2.3 5.32 0.66 50 0.8 0.8

Se(VI) x.y 4.82 2.3 10 12 1.510-9 1.410-7

Si(IV) 9.4 2.33 1.12 <10 4 0.4 0.2

Structure e/h-mobility e/h-lifetime growth availability/ Se

cm2/V s yield
Diamond diamond 2800/130-2010

Ge diamond 3900/190

Se monoclinic

Si diamond 1600/430

Intrinsic Dielectric W e-h pairs Si

carrier constant (eV) per 0.3%Xo
density (cm-3)
Diamond 5.7 13 7200

Ge 16 2.9 16000

Se

Si 6.68109 11.9 3.6 26000

 1

Compound semiconductor properties - Binary II-VI

Material Properties at Room Temperature (295K)
Xo(cm) (g/cm3) Eg(eV) (cm) ee(cm2/V) hh(cm2/V)

Cd(II)S(VI) 2.1 4.87 2.5

Cd(II)Se(VI) 5.655 1.751

Cd(II)Te(VI) 1.5 5.86 1.475 10 9 3.310-3 2.210-4

Hg(II)I2() 1.2 6.40 2.13

Hg(II)S(VI) 7.72

Hg(II)Se(VI) 8.22

Hg(II)Te(VI) 8.12

Zn(II)S(VI) 4.11 3.68-3.911

Zn(II)Se(VI) 5.26 2.822

Zn(II)Te(VI) 5.65 2.394

 Compound semiconductor properties - Binary II-VI
Material Properties at Room Temperature (295K)
Dopant Structure e/h-mobility e/h-lifetime growth availability/
cm /V
2
s
yield
Cd(II)S wurzite 340/340

Cd(II)Se wurzite 650/10

Cd(II)Te Cl zincblende 1050/100 2.0/2.0 THM critical

HgI2 50-65/

HgS zincblende 10-30/10-30

HgSe zincblende 1.5/

HgTe zincblende 35/

ZnS* 165/5(?/100-800)

ZnSe 500/30

ZnTe 330-530/100-900
 1

Compound semiconductor properties - Binary II-VI

Material Yield of e-h pairs/0.3%Xo at Room Temperature (295K)
Xo(cm) Intrinsic Dielectric W e-h pairs
carrier constant (eV) per 0.3%Xo
density (cm )
-3

Cd(II)S

Cd(II)Se 10.2

Cd(II)Te 1.5 10.2 4.4 6600

HgI2 4.2 4.2

HgS

HgSe

HgTe

ZnS 8.9

ZnSe 9.1

ZnTe 7.4
 1

Compound semiconductor properties - Binary III-V

Material Properties at Room Temperature (295K)
Xo(cm) (g/cm3) Eg(eV) (cm) ee(cm2/V) hh(cm2/V)

Al(III)As(V) 3.717 2.153

Al0.5(III)Ga0.5(V) x.y 5.85 1.44 >10 5 3.310-3 2.210-4

Al(III)N(V)* x.y 3.285/3.255 /6.2 10 11 1.010-3 510-4

Al(III)P(V) 2.45

Al(III)Sb(V) 4.29 1.615

Ga(III)As(V) 2.3 5.318 1.424 10 7 810-3 410-6

Ga(III)N(V)* x.y 6.10/6.095 3.24/3.44 >10 11 210-3 <1.610-3

Ga(III)P(V) 3.5 4.129 2.272

Ga(III)Sb(V) 5.63 0.75

In(III)As(V)

In(III)N(V)* 6.93/6.81 /1.89-2.00

In(III)P(V)

In(III)Sb(V) 5.80 0.17

 1

Compound semiconductor properties - Binary III-V

Material Properties at Room Temperature (295K)
Dopant Structure e/h-mobility e/h-lifetime growth availability/
cm /V
2
s
yield
AlAs 75-294/

Al0.5 Ga0.5

AlN 300/14

AlP 80/

AlSb 200-900/200-400

CdS 250-300/15?

GaAs 9200/400

GaN 1000-1350/100-350

GaP 300-400/

GaSb 4000-5000/680-1000

InN* 3200/

InP 4000-5000/150-600

InSb 70000-100000/500-1700
 1

Compound semiconductor properties - Binary III-V

Material Yield of e-h pairs/0.3%Xo at Room Temperature (295K)
Xo(cm) Intrinsic Dielectric W e-h pairs
carrier constant (eV) per 0.3%X o
density (cm )
-3

AlAs

Al0.5 Ga0.5

AlN x.y 3.285/3.255 4.6-8.5/9.14

AlP

AlSb

CdS

GaAs 2.3 2.1106 12.5 4.3 11000

GaN 5.35-8.9/9.5-10.4

GaP 3.5 11 5200

GaSb

InN* 8.4-15.3

InP 2.1 13 4.2 8900

InSb
Compound semiconductor properties - ternary 1

Material Properties at Room Temperature (295K)

Xo(cm) (g/cm3) Eg(eV) (cm) ee(cm2/V) hh(cm2/V)
AlxGa1-xAs 1.424+1.247x

AlxGa1-xSb 0.76+1.129x+0.368x2

AlxIn1-xAs 0.360+2.012+0.698x2

AlxIn 1-x P 1.351+2.23x

AlxIn 1-x Sb 0.172+1.621x+0.43x2

GaAsxSb1-x 0.726-0.502x+1.2x 2

GaxIn1-xAs 0.36+1.064x

GaxIn1-xSb 0.172+0.139x+0.415x2

GaxIn1-xP 1.351+0.643x+0.786x2

GaPxAs1-x 1.42+1.150x+0.176x2

InAsxSb1-x 0.18-0.41x+0.58x2

InxGa1-xN 3.44-3.0x

InPxAs1-x 0.360+0.891x+0.101x2

CdZn0.1Te 49.1 5.78 1.57 21010 410-3 (0.2-5.0)10-5

-5 -6
 1

Compound semiconductor properties - ternary

Material Properties at Room Temperature (295K)
Dopant Structure e/h-mobility e/h-lifetime growth availability/
cm /V
2
s
yield
AlxGa1-xAs

AlxGa1-xSb

AlxIn1-xAs

AlxIn 1-x P

AlxIn 1-x Sb

GaAsxSb1-x

GaxIn1-xAs

GaxIn1-xSb

GaxIn1-xP

GaPxAs1-x

InAsxSb1-x

InxGa1-xN

InPxAs1-x

CdZn0.1Te - large poly 1000/50 1.0/1.0 HPB OK?

Compound semiconductor properties - ternary 1

Material Yield of e-h pairs/0.3%Xo at Room Temperature (295K)

Xo(cm) Intrinsic Dielectric W e-h pairs
carrier constant (eV) per 0.3%Xo
density (cm )
-3

AlxGa1-xAs

AlxGa1-xSb

AlxIn1-xAs

AlxIn 1-x P

AlxIn 1-x Sb

GaAsxSb1-x

GaxIn1-xAs

GaxIn1-xSb

GaxIn1-xP

GaPxAs1-x

InAsxSb1-x

InxGa1-xN

InPxAs1-x
 1

Compound semiconductor properties - amorphous

Material Properties at Room Temperature (295K)
Xo(cm) (g/cm3) Eg(eV) (cm) ee(cm2/V) hh(cm2/V)

a-Se 4.3 2.3 10 12 510-9 1.410-7

a-Si 2.3 1.8 10 12 6.810-8 210-8

Dopant Structure e/h-mobility e/h-lifetime growth availability/

cm /V
2
s
yield

a-Se 0.13/0.007

a-Si 1/0.1
Xo(cm) Intrinsic Dielectric W e-h pairs
carrier constant (eV) per 0.3%Xo
density (cm-3)

a-Se 6.6

a-Si 11.7
 1

Compound semiconductor properties - other

Material Properties at Room Temperature (295K)
Xo(cm) (g/cm3) Eg(eV) (cm) ee(cm2/V) hh(cm2/V)

Pb(II)I2() 6.2 2.3 1012 810-6

Si(IV)C(IV)** 8.1 3.21 2.36-3.23

Tl(I)Br(VII)* 81/35 7.5 2.7 10 11 10-4 10-5

Dopant Structure e/h-mobility e/h-lifetime growth availability/
cm 2/V s yield

PbI2 hexag.crystal 8/2

SiC** 200/20(800-400/320-90)

Tl(I)Br* cubic 30/7

Xo(cm) Intrinsic Dielectric W e-h pairs
carrier constant (eV) per 0.3%Xo
density (cm )
-3

PbI2

SiC** 8.1 <10 10 9.7 15900

Tl(I)Br*
Compound semiconductor properties
1
 Antimonide-Based Compound
Semiconductors
3
(6.1 Angstrom Compounds)
Band Gap (eV)

0
5.4 5.6 5.8 6.0 6.2 6.4 6.6
Lattice Constant ()
 1

III-V Nitrides
 1

Compound semiconductor properties

Band Gap vs. e-h pair energy

5.00
4.50
y = 1.8129x + 1.6948
CdTe
4.00
Si GaAs
e-h creation energy (eV)

3.50
3.00 Ge
2.50
2.00
1.50
1.00
0.50
0.00
0.00 0.20 0.40 0.60 0.80 1.00 1.20 1.40 1.60
Band Gap (eV)
 1

Compound semiconductor properties

Band Gap vs. e-h pair energy

7.00
y = 2.8911x - 1.8306
6.00
TlBr
e-h creation energy (eV)

5.00
HgI2 PbI2
4.00
GaSe
3.00

2.00

1.00

0.00
0.00 0.50 1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50 3.00
Band Gap (eV)
 1

II Device Engineering
Device engineering facilitates efficient, robust and stable sensor
operation.

Slicing, dicing
Chemical etching
Polishing
Metallization
Electrode deposition
Metal sputtering
Surface passivation
Contact technologies: Ohmic vs. blocking contacts
Uni-polar devices
Flip-chip bonding
3D-structures
 1

Detector configuration is optimized for optimum

performance for a given application.

Single element planar

structure

Co-planar grid structure

Pixel detector structure

-small pixel effect.
 1

III Instrument Design

Instrument design aims at optimal use of the sensor technology in
different applications.

Modality
-energies
Packaging
Operating environment: Temperature, Radiation,
Electronic noise, Mechanical
stresses
Resolution
DQE
MTF
Frame rate
Fill factor
 1

Bench Marks in Instrument Design

Resolution, Detective Quantum Efficiency (DQE), Modular
Transfer Function (MTF), Frame rate and Fill Factor
constitute the bench marks for instrument design
Material Resolution DQE MTF Frame Rate Fill Factor
(line-pairs/mm) (%) (5lp/mm) (frames/sec) (%)

a-Se 2.5-4 10-70 0.2-15 57-86

a-Si 2.5-4 10-70 0.3-0.4 0.2-15 57-80

Cd0.9Zn0.1Te 11-13 >90 0.7 15-30 100