Abstract
Epitaxial HgCdTe grown by molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE) is the material of choice for advanced infrared (IR) detection and imaging devices. Its bandgap is easily tunable over the entire IR range with only very small changes in lattice constant, offering the possibility of multilayer device structures and thus an unlimited choice of device designs, and it yields devices with quantum efficiencies as high as 0.99. Despite a number of unresolved challenges in achieving its ultimate promise for industrial application, the great achievements in the MBE growth of HgCdTe are made evident by its routine use in the industrial manufacture of focal-plane arrays (FPAs). MBE growth can be continuously monitored in situ by reflection high-energy electron diffraction, spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE), and other characterization tools, providing instantaneous feedback on the influence of growth conditions on film structure. This allows the growth of a large range of unique structures such as superlattices (SLs), quantum well devices, lasers, and advanced design devices such as multicolor and high-operating-temperature IR sensors and focal-plane arrays. This chapter considers the theory and practice of MBE growth of HgCdTe and HgTe/CdTe superlattices and the use of HgCdTe in IR devices, emphasizing such incompletely resolved issues as the choice and preparation of substrates, dislocation reduction, p-doping, and the uses of SE.
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