A comparison of gamma radiation effects on bromine- and hydrazine-treated HgCdTe photodiodes

Abstract

In this study, we investigated the effects of gamma radiation on ZnS/CdTe-passivated HgCdTe photodiodes that were fabricated with one of two different surface treatments using bromine, Br-2, or hydrazine, N2H4. Unlike the ZnS-passivated HgCdTe photodiodes, the ZnS/CdTe-passivated HgCdTe photodiodes showed no degradation in resistance-area product at zero bias (ROA) values after gamma irradiation of up to 1 Mrad. However, there is a significant difference between the bromine- and hydrazine-treated samples. Regardless of the dose of gamma radiation, there was little change in the forward current characteristics of the hydrazine-treated diode in comparison with the conventional bromine-treated diode. The hydrazine-treated diode showed fairly uniform R(0)A values of > 10(7) Omega-cm(2) up to 1 Mrad of gamma irradiation, whereas the bromine-treated diode showed an abrupt change in R(0)A values from similar to 10(6) Omega-cm(2) to similar to 10(7) Omega-cm(2) after gamma irradiation. Therefore, for use in a gamma radiation environment, the best combination for high-performance HgCdTe photodiodes is a ZnS/CdTe passivant that has been treated with hydrazine.