Résumé
In this paper, we study the influence of three different etching depths on electrical and electro-optical properties of nonpassivated T2SL nBn Ga-free pixel detector having a 5μm cut-off wavelength at 150 K. The study shows the strong influence of lateral diffusion length on the shallow etched pixel properties and therefore, the need to perform etching through the absorber layer to avoid lateral diffusion contribution. The lowest dark current density was recorded for a deep-etched detector, on the order of 1 × 10-5 A/cm2 at 150 K and operating bias equal to – 300 mV. The quantum efficiency of this deep-etched detector is measured close to 55 % at 150 K, without anti-reflection coating. A comparison between electro-optical performances obtained on the three etching depths demonstrates that the etching only through the middle of the absorber layer (Mid-etched) allows eliminating lateral diffusion contribution while preserving a good uniformity between the diode’s performance. Such result is suitable for the fabrication of IR focal plane arrays (FPA).