Abstract

Schottky barrier IR diodes exhibit low quantum efficiency in the 0.01-2.0% range. This is much lower than the 40-70% attainable in compound semiconductor diodes such as mercury cadmium telluride (HgCdTe) or indium antimonide (InSb). However, the actual performance of platinum silicide (PtSi) Schottky diodes in a staring array is comparable due to the low noise and <1% rms pixel uniformity. In fact, given the high 1/f noise of the compound semiconductors and the >10% pixel nonuniformity, we show that PtSi arrays are superior in performance for many subatmospheric applications. This outstanding performance combines with the excellent antiblooming characteristics and low cost high reliability monolithic silicon technology of the Schottky arrays.

© 1990 Optical Society of America