Structural and Electronic Properties of Gold Contacts on CdZnTe with Different Surface Finishes for Radiation Detector Applications

State-of-the-art room-temperature, high-resolution x-ray and gamma-ray semiconductor detectors can be fabricated from CdZnTe (CZT) crystals. The structural and electronic properties of the CZT surface, especially the contact interfaces, can have a substantial effect on radiation detector performance, for example leakage current, signal-to-noise ratio, and energy resolution, especially for soft x-rays and large pixilated arrays. Atomically smooth and defect-free surfaces are desirable for high-performance CZT-based detectors; chemo-mechanical polishing (CMP) is typically performed to produce such surfaces. The electrical behavior of the metal/CZT interface varies substantially with surface preparation before contact deposition, and with choice of metal and deposition technique. We report a systematic study of the structural and electronic properties of gold (Au) contacts on CZT prepared with different surface finishes. We observed subsurface damage under Au contacts on CMP-finished CZT and abrupt interfaces for Au on chemically-polished (CP) CZT. Schottky barrier formation was observed for Au contacts, irrespective of surface finish, and less charge trapping and low surface resistance were observed for CP-finished surfaces. Pre-deposition surface treatment produced interfaces free from oxide layers.