Backside-illuminated silicon photodiode array for an integrated spectrometer

Author

Kwa, Tommy A. ; Sarro, Pasqualina M. ; Wolffenbuttel, Reinoud F.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. Eng., Delft Univ. of Technol., Netherlands

Volume

44

Issue

5

fYear

1997

fDate

5/1/1997 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

761

Lastpage

765

Abstract

A p⁺-n, backside-illuminated photodiode array, to be used in an integrated silicon spectrometer, has been fabricated and characterized. For this type of application, illumination from the back is essential. The array is suspended in a nitride membrane for enhanced electrical and thermal isolation from the micromachined bulk. To prevent illumination from the front, the array is entirely covered with an aluminum layer, which also enhances the spectral responsivity. A model is described with which the performance of the backside-illuminated array was predicted. Furthermore, the performance of the photodiode array is compared to that of a conventional, front-illuminated array

Keywords

arrays; elemental semiconductors; micromachining; photodetectors; photodiodes; semiconductor device models; semiconductor technology; silicon; visible spectrometers; visible spectroscopy; 375 to 725 nm; Al layer; Al-Si; backside-illuminated Si photodiode array; bipolar IC processing; enhanced electrical isolation; enhanced thermal isolation; integrated spectrometer; micromachined bulk; model; nitride membrane; p⁺-n backside-illuminated photodiode array; performance prediction; reverse I-V characteristics; spectral responsivity; Aluminum; Biomembranes; Etching; Fabrication; Laboratories; Lighting; Photodiodes; Predictive models; Silicon; Spectroscopy;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Electron Devices, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9383

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/16.568037

Filename

568037