Backside charging of CCDs

Abstract

Backside illuminated thinned CCDs have the highest response in the UV and blue spectral region. Their use in detectors is limited due to the instability of the CCD. A low temperature oxide nearly 30 Å thick is grown on the acid thinned backside to tie up dangling bonds. The oxide carries fixed positive charges that attract and trap photogenerated electrons. A permanent and stable backside charging procedure is necessary to create a negative bias that will drive electrons to the frontside collection wells. We have shown chemisorption charging to be a novel method to permanently charge CCDs. The catalytic nature of certain metals are exploited to chemisorb oxygen as negative atomic species at the metal/oxide interface. Charging is shown to occur by depositing a thin film 10 Å of platinum on the backside. No tunneling occurs because of the thick oxide. The Passivated Platinum Film (PPtF) which utilizes a hafnium oxide antireflection coating to passivate the platinum is an effective process, but it is sensitive to the environment and discharges quickly upon hydrogen exposure. A silver catalytic coating is shown to be far superior to other charging techniques. Silver irreversibly chemisorbs oxygen and hydrogen is not dissociatively adsorbed except at temperatures < 100°K. High quantum efficiencies have been recorded for the UV-blue ranges. A slight drop is seen at cold temperatures due to interaction of water with oxygen to form hydroxyl ions. No change in QE is seen upon exposure to hydrogen or during outgassing. Silver is also one of the most transparent metals and easily deposited by evaporation. We therefore have developed a charging process which is nearly ideal for CCD imaging.