Interview with Paul W. Kruse on the Early History of HgCdTe, Conducted on October 22, 1980

Abstract

This paper presents an interview with Dr Paul W. Kruse (1927–2012) on the early history of the semiconductor alloy mercury cadmium telluride (HgCdTe or Hg1−xCdxTe) at the Honeywell Corporate Research Center near Minneapolis, Minnesota. Conducted on October 22, 1980, the interview covers two main areas. One area is the story of how the HgCdTe research effort came about at the Honeywell Research Center in the early 1960s, what technical choices were made and when, and what technical challenges were overcome and how. The other area is the organization, culture, environment and personnel at the Honeywell Research Center that made the early HgCdTe research programs so successful. HgCdTe has emerged as the highest-performance, most widely applicable infrared detector material. HgCdTe continues to satisfy a broad variety of advanced military and space applications. It is illustrative to look back on the early history of this remarkable semiconductor alloy to help to understand why its technological development as an infrared detector has been so successful.