Wafer-Scale High-Detectivity Near-Infrared PbS Detectors Fabricated from Vapor Phase Deposition

The commercialization of uncooledlead-salt photoconductive(PbXPC) detectors has been restricted by the low-yield of standard chemicalbath deposition (CBD) manufacturing technology. As an iterative solution,herein, a novel vapor phase deposition (VPD) route is demonstratedby fabricating the 3 in. wafer-scale uniform PbS sensitized filmswith high detectivity. The morphological evolution suggests that theself-assembled rod-like microstructure, which is dominated by theI(2)/PbS flux ratio in the VPD process, is the key to triggeringthe near-infrared (NIR, 1-3 mu m) response of the PbS-sensitizedfilms. The maximum peak detectivity of VPD-PbS NIR detector of 1.9x 10(11) cm Hz(1/2) W-1 isachieved after optimizing the sensitization-condition dependence ofPbS detector's performance. The high performance of wafer-scaleVPD-PbS PC detectors, which attains the same performance as standardCBD-PbS detectors, manifests that the VPD technology opens up a newavenue to the industrialization of uncooled lead-salt PC detectors.