Minority carrier lifetimes of metalorganic chemical vapor deposition long-wavelength infrared HgCdTe on GaAs

Abstract

Metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) growth of HgCdTe on GaAs is a promising technique that overcomes the size and crystal quality limitations of CdTe substrates. An important material parameter is the minority carrier lifetime, which determines the ultimate zero bias impedance and quantum efficiency of a photodiode. We present the first systematic study of the temperature and carrier concentration dependence of minority carrier lifetimes on n-type and p-type layers of MOCVD long-wavelength infrared HgCdTe grown on GaAs substrates. The temperature dependencies of the lifetime are compared with theoretical predictions based on Auger, radiative, and Shockley–Read recombination. Excellent fits are obtained over a broad temperature range, from 20 K to room temperature. The experimental lifetimes of n-type material reach the theoretical limit imposed by Auger+radiative recombination for carrier concentrations higher than 2×1015 cm−3. For lower carrier concentrations, the measured lifetimes are shorter than those predicted from Auger+radiative recombination, and Shockley–Read recombination must be added to the calculations. The lifetimes of arsenic-doped and vacancy-doped p-type material are Shockley-Read limited. They are one order of magnitude longer than those previously observed on vacancy-doped liquid phase epitaxy material.