DRIFT EFFECTS IN HGCDTE DETECTORS

Abstract

The characteristics of temporal drift in spectral responsivity of HgCdTe photodetectors is investigated and found to have an origin different from what has been reported in literature. Traditionally, the literature attributes the cause of drift due to the deposition of thin film of ice water on the active area of the cold detector. The source of drift as proposed in this paper is more critical owing to the difficulties in acquisition of infrared temperature measurements. A model explaining the drift phenomenon in HgCdTe detectors is described by considering the deep trapping of charge carriers and generation of radiation induced deep trap centers which are meta-stable in nature. A theoretical model is fitted to the experimental data. A comparison of the model with the experimental data shows that the radiation induced deep trap centers and charge trapping effects are mainly responsible for the drift phenomenon observed in HgCdTe detectors.

Keywords

• HgCdTe
• Spectral responsivity
• Meta-stable traps
• Quantum efficiency
• Detectivity
• Carrier lifetime