Platinum silicide Schottky barrier IR detectors with thick silicide layers were fabricated on 5-15 ohm-cm p-type (100) silicon wafers. Platinum silicide layer was formed by vacuum E-gun deposition of platinum after conventional wet chemical cleaning, and subsequent sintering in dry nitrogen ambient.
Fabricated detectord have near ideal (n=1.1) diode characteristics with barrier height of 0.24 eV at 77 K. IR detectors were operated at 81K in the mode of backside illumination with zero bias. Spectral responses of the detectors were measured in the range of 1.7um to 2.8um. Extrapolated cut-off wavelength from the spectral response measurement is 7.3um (equivalent to 0.17 eV barrier) and measured quantum efficiency is about 0.1% at 2.2um.