Atomically precise surface engineering of silicon CCDs for enhanced UV quantum efficiency

Articles you may be interested in Atomic layer deposited high-nanolaminates for silicon surface passivation Extremely low surface recombination velocities in black silicon passivated by atomic layer deposition Appl. Enhancement in the efficiency of light emission from silicon by a thin Al 2 O 3 surface-passivating layer grown by atomic layer deposition at low temperature Enhanced quantum efficiency of high-purity silicon imaging detectors by ultralow temperature surface modification using Sb doping Appl. Substrate preparation and low-temperature boron doped silicon growth on wafer-scale charge-coupled devices by molecular beam epitaxy The authors report here on a new technique, combining the atomic precision of molecular beam epitaxy and atomic layer deposition, to fabricate back illuminated silicon CCD detectors that demonstrate world record detector quantum efficiency (>50%) in the near and far ultraviolet (155–300 nm). This report describes in detail the unique surface engineering approaches used and demonstrates the robustness of detector performance that is obtained by achieving atomic level precision at key steps in the fabrication process. The characterization, materials, and devices produced in this effort will be presented along with comparison to other approaches. V C 2013 American Vacuum Society.