JP5540175B2 - Ultraviolet sensor element and manufacturing method thereof - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an ultraviolet sensor element that detects ultraviolet rays and a method for manufacturing the same.

  Many studies have revealed that ultraviolet rays are harmful to the human body. For example, according to the United Nations Environment Program, it is clear that ultraviolet rays are related to various diseases such as skin wrinkles, blemishes, and skin cancer. It has become. In recent years, with the increase in the amount of ultraviolet rays coming to the surface due to the destruction of the ozone layer, there is an increasing concern about the adverse effects on health, and there is an increasing need to detect the amount of ultraviolet rays with high accuracy.

  Ultraviolet rays are classified into three types according to wavelength: A ultraviolet rays (UV-A), B ultraviolet rays (UV-B), and C ultraviolet rays (UV-C). UV-A refers to a wavelength of 320 to 400 nm, UV-B refers to a wavelength of 280 to 320 nm, and UV-C refers to a wavelength of 280 nm. Most of these short-wavelength UV-C and UV-B, which are the most harmful of these, are absorbed by the ozone layer and do not reach the ground surface, but a part of UV-B and UV-A reach the ground surface. Therefore, it is required for the ultraviolet sensor element to detect these ultraviolet wavelength ranges.

  As conventional ultraviolet sensor elements using zinc oxide, there are techniques described in Patent Documents 1 and 2. Patent Document 1 is characterized in that a zinc oxide thin film is used for the ultraviolet detection part and an ultraviolet output is taken out as a change in resistance value of the zinc oxide thin film by forming an electrode. Patent Document 2 is characterized in that the a-plane of the zinc oxide single crystal is used as the light receiving surface in the ultraviolet detection portion.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-241777 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-182290

  However, in Patent Document 1, although it is desirable that the optical band gap of zinc oxide is in the range of about 3.0 to 3.2 eV, the substrate used for thin film growth is made of a crystal structure such as quartz or fused quartz. In addition, when a substrate having a large mismatch in lattice constant is used, the band gap absorption edge is applied to the visible light region, so that the light receiving sensitivity due to the photoelectric conduction effect is also obtained for visible light. There is. Further, although the light receiving sensitivity to ultraviolet rays is two digits or more, it is unclear how much is actually obtained.

  Moreover, in patent document 2, the impedance by the photoconductive effect in an anti-resonance frequency is obtained by using a zinc oxide single crystal oriented in the a-plane for the ultraviolet detection portion and applying a voltage in the c-axis direction with an electrode formed on the c-plane. Although the change is an ultraviolet output, this method has a problem that the signal detection circuit becomes complicated because it is driven at a high frequency of several hundred kHz although it is highly sensitive.

  An object of the present invention is to solve the above-described problems, and to provide an ultraviolet sensor element capable of obtaining appropriate light receiving sensitivity with a simple structure and a method for manufacturing the same.

Ultraviolet sensor element of the invention consists of a zinc oxide single crystal has a chip to the exposed surface a plurality of a-plane, and a pair of electrodes which are attached to the chip, among the plurality of a surface Any one a-plane is a light-receiving surface, and the pair of electrodes are attached only to the a-plane constituting the light-receiving surface.
With this configuration, it is possible to improve the ultraviolet light receiving sensitivity with a simple structure. In addition, when the ultraviolet ray is detected by the piezoelectric effect, the electrode attachment surface is limited. However, if the output for ultraviolet light reception is output as a change in resistance value due to the photoelectric conduction effect, the degree of freedom of the electrode attachment surface is reduced. In addition, an electrode can be provided on the a-plane, and the ultraviolet light receiving sensitivity can be improved with a simple structure.

In the ultraviolet sensor element of the present invention, the electrode is composed of one or more layers of Al, Cr, Zn, Ti, Ru, Pd, Pt, Ni, In, and Au.
With this configuration, ohmic contact can be obtained, and adhesion with the zinc oxide crystal is good, so that a highly sensitive and highly reliable ultraviolet sensor element can be realized.

In the ultraviolet sensor element of the present invention, the electrode is attached by vapor deposition.
With this configuration, it is possible to reliably attach the electrode.

In the ultraviolet sensor element of the present invention, the zinc oxide single crystal is configured by adding an acceptor.
With this configuration, it is possible to realize an ultraviolet sensor element having a low surface recombination rate, a long carrier life, and a long diffusion length.
In the ultraviolet sensor element of the present invention, the acceptor is at least one of N, Li, Na, K, Cu, P, As, and Sb.

Further, the method for producing an ultraviolet sensor element of the present invention includes a wafer generation step of generating a wafer by cutting a zinc oxide single crystal ingot so that a plurality of a-planes become exposed surfaces, and a plurality of a constitute a plurality of compartments in any one of a surface of the plane, the a-plane of each section of the wafer as the light receiving surface, additionally provided respectively a pair of electrodes only a surface of the light receiving surface of each of compartments An electrode attaching step, and a chip forming step of cutting the wafer into chips to form chips.
With this configuration, it is possible to improve the ultraviolet light receiving sensitivity with a simple structure. In addition, when the ultraviolet ray is detected by the piezoelectric effect, the electrode attachment surface is limited. However, if the output for ultraviolet light reception is output as a change in resistance value due to the photoelectric conduction effect, the degree of freedom of the electrode attachment surface is reduced. In addition, an electrode can be provided on the a-plane.

  Moreover, the manufacturing method of the ultraviolet sensor element of this invention has the heat processing process which heat-processes the said wafer after the said wafer production | generation process. The heat treatment temperature is set to 600 ° C. to 1100 ° C., preferably 850 ° C. ± 20 ° C.

Moreover, the manufacturing method of the ultraviolet sensor element of this invention is set as the structure by which the acceptor is added to the said zinc oxide single crystal.
With this configuration, it is possible to realize an ultraviolet sensor element having a low surface recombination rate, a long carrier life, and a long diffusion length.
In the method for producing an ultraviolet sensor element of the present invention, the acceptor is at least one of N, Li, Na, K, Cu, P, As, and Sb.

  According to the ultraviolet sensor element and the manufacturing method thereof of the present invention, the ultraviolet sensor element can be formed with a simple structure, and the ultraviolet light receiving sensitivity can be greatly improved.

It is a perspective view of a zinc oxide single crystal. It is a figure which shows the structure of a zinc oxide single crystal. It is a perspective view of a wafer. It is a perspective view of the wafer in which the electrode was formed. It is a perspective view of the wafer showing a cutting line. It is a top view of a chip It is a side view of a chip. It is a perspective view of a stem and a chip mounted on the stem. It is a perspective view which shows the structure by which the electrode and the terminal were electrically connected. It is a perspective view which shows the structure by which the cap is arrange | positioned on the stem. It is a perspective view of an ultraviolet sensor element. It is a figure which shows the ultraviolet-ray sensitivity characteristic of a ultraviolet sensor element. It is a perspective view of a polarity determination apparatus. It is a figure which shows the ultraviolet sensitivity characteristic of another ultraviolet sensor element. It is a side view of the modification of a chip | tip.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described with reference to the drawings. For the UV sensor element, zinc oxide (ZnO) having a wide energy band gap is used. First, in the first manufacturing process, a single crystal of zinc oxide is generated. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a zinc oxide single crystal produced in the first production process. The zinc oxide single crystal 10 shown in FIG. 1 is produced by, for example, a hydrothermal synthesis method using lithium hydroxide (LiOH) or potassium hydroxide (KOH) as a mineralizer.

  In addition to the hydrothermal synthesis method, vapor phase growth method, flux method, melting method, molecular beam epitaxy method (MBE method), vacuum deposition method, physical vapor deposition method (PLD method), catalytic chemical vapor deposition method The zinc oxide single crystal 10 may be generated by any one of (CVD method), metal organic chemical vapor deposition method (MO-CVD method), and sputtering method. By using these various methods including the hydrothermal synthesis method, the crystallinity becomes high, and it becomes possible to produce the zinc oxide single crystal 10 with low defects and high internal quantum efficiency.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the structure of the zinc oxide single crystal 10. As shown in FIG. 2, the zinc oxide single crystal 10 has a wurtzite crystal structure. In this crystal structure, a zinc atom is located at the center of a tetrahedron having four oxygen atoms as vertices, and an oxygen atom is located at the center of the tetrahedron having four zinc atoms as vertices. The distance between the apex atom and the center atom of the tetrahedron is 1.992 Å. Moreover, four oxygen atoms are located on the same plane, and the plane is referred to as a -c plane. On the other hand, four zinc atoms are located on the same plane, and the plane is called a c-plane. The −c plane and the plane perpendicular to the c plane are referred to as a plane. In FIG. 1, the zinc oxide single crystal 10 is oriented in the c-axis whose vertical direction is the −c plane and the axis perpendicular to the c-plane.

  Next, in the second manufacturing process, the zinc oxide single crystal 10 shown in FIG. 1 is cut to a thickness of about 0.4 mm at a cutting plane parallel to the a-plane, thereby generating a plate-like body. Furthermore, this plate-like body is processed into a circular outer periphery. Further, the front and back surfaces of the plate-like body are mirror-polished by a chemical mechanical polishing method (CMP method) or the like, thereby improving the flatness and forming a wafer having the surface a-plane. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the wafer 20 generated in the second manufacturing process.

  Further, in the third manufacturing process, heat treatment of the wafer 20 is performed. The heat treatment temperature is set to 600 ° C. to 1100 ° C., preferably 850 ° C. ± 20 ° C. In the embodiment, it is 850 ° C. In addition, the process in which heat processing is performed after the polarity determination of the wafer 20 mentioned later may be sufficient.

Next, in the fourth manufacturing process, a plurality of rectangular sections are formed on the surface of the wafer 20, and electrodes are formed on the a-plane of each section. FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the wafer 20 on which the electrode 40 is formed on the a-plane of each section.
Next, in the fifth manufacturing process, the wafer 20 is cut into sections to generate chips. FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the wafer 20 showing a cutting line. The dotted lines in FIG. 5 are cutting lines corresponding to the sections, and chips are generated by cutting the wafer 20 along the cutting lines.

  6 is a top view of the chip, and FIG. 7 is a side view of the chip. The chip 50 shown in these drawings includes a chip-shaped zinc oxide single crystal 30 having a surface as the a-plane and an electrode 40 formed on the a-plane on the surface of the chip-shaped zinc oxide single crystal 30. The electrode 40 is a comb-shaped electrode for taking out as a signal a change in resistance value of the chip-shaped zinc oxide single crystal 30 due to ultraviolet irradiation of the chip-shaped zinc oxide single crystal 30. The electrode 40 is formed by vacuum deposition. Specifically, the electrode 40 is formed by forming a resist pattern on the a-plane of the wafer 20 by photolithography, forming a 250 nm aluminum (Al) thin film by sputtering, and then lifting off. . Since the width of the electrode 40 is appropriately adjusted depending on the resistivity of the wafer 20, it can be a rectangular shape as well as a comb shape.

  In addition, the electrode 40 is other than aluminum, specifically, chromium (Cr), zinc (Zn), titanium (Ti), ruthenium (Ru), palladium (Pd), platinum (Pt), nickel (Ni), indium. It may be formed of either (In) or gold (Au). By forming the electrode 40 with these metals including aluminum, ohmic contact is obtained, and since the adhesiveness with the chip-like zinc oxide single crystal 30 is good, a highly sensitive and highly reliable ultraviolet ray. A sensor element can be realized.

  Next, in the sixth manufacturing process, the chip 50 is mounted on the stem. FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the stem and the chip 50 mounted on the stem. The stem 60 includes a mounting base 61 for the chip 50 and two terminals 62 penetrating the mounting base 61, and the chip 50 is mounted on the upper surface of the mounting base 61 by die bonding.

  Next, in the seventh manufacturing process, the electrode 40 in the chip 50 and the terminal 62 in the stem 60 are electrically connected. FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing a configuration in which the electrode 40 in the chip 50 and the terminal 62 in the stem 60 are electrically connected. In FIG. 9, the electrode 40 in the chip 50 and the portion of the terminal 62 in the stem 60 that protrudes from the mounting base 61 are electrically connected via a bonding wire 64 by wire bonding. In addition to the wire bonding, the electrode 40 in the chip 50 and the terminal 62 in the stem 60 can be electrically connected by various connection methods.

  Next, in an eighth manufacturing process, a cap having an ultraviolet transmission filter formed on the stem 60 is welded, whereby the chip 50 is sealed and the ultraviolet sensor element is completed. FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing a configuration in which a cap is disposed on the stem 60. In FIG. 10, an ultraviolet transmission filter 72 that transmits ultraviolet rays is formed on the upper surface of the cap 70. FIG. 11 is a perspective view of the ultraviolet sensor element. The ultraviolet sensor element shown in FIG. 11 has a structure in which an ultraviolet transmission filter 72 is disposed above a chip 50 (not shown) in the cap 70.

  The ultraviolet rays irradiated from the outside pass through the ultraviolet transmission filter 72 and reach the a-plane which is the light receiving surface of the chip-like zinc oxide single crystal 30 constituting the chip 50. When the ultraviolet rays reach the a-plane of the chip-shaped zinc oxide single crystal 30, the resistance value of the chip-shaped zinc oxide single crystal 30 changes. As the resistance value changes, the value of the signal current (photocurrent) flowing through the chip-like zinc oxide single crystal 30 also changes. An external device (not shown) is connected to the terminal 62 and can detect the current value of the signal and calculate the amount of ultraviolet rays based on the current value.

  FIG. 12 is a diagram showing the ultraviolet sensitivity characteristic of the ultraviolet sensor element, and is a characteristic when the light receiving surface of the chip-like zinc oxide single crystal 30 is a-plane. As shown in FIG. 12, when the light-receiving surface of the chip-like zinc oxide single crystal 30 is the a-plane, the photocurrent value is smaller than when the light-receiving surface described later is a -c plane, A sharp peak is shown in the vicinity of 350 nm, which is the wavelength region, and the light receiving sensitivity is good.

In the above-described embodiment, the light-receiving surface of the chip-like zinc oxide single crystal 30 is the a-plane. However, in the development process of the present invention, one having the -c-plane as the light-receiving surface has also been proposed. In this case, in the second manufacturing step, the zinc oxide single crystal 10 is cut to a thickness of about 0.4 mm at a cut surface parallel to the -c plane and the c plane, and a plate-like body is generated. Furthermore, this plate-like body is processed into a circular outer periphery, and the front and back surfaces are mirror-polished. As a result, a wafer having exposed surfaces of −c surface and c surface is formed. Thereafter, the polarity of the wafer 20 is determined through a heat treatment process. FIG. 13 is a perspective view of the polarity determination device. The polarity determination apparatus shown in FIG. 1 includes a tester 100, two metal probes 102, and an ultraviolet light emitting diode (LED) 104 that irradiates ultraviolet rays.
The wafer 20 is disposed at the lower part of the polarity determination device so as to be in contact with the tips of the two metal probes 102. When the ultraviolet LED 104 emits ultraviolet rays, a part of the surface of the wafer 20 becomes the ultraviolet irradiation region 22. The tester 100 detects the resistance value on the surface of the wafer 20 when the ultraviolet LED 104 irradiates ultraviolet rays. The polarity of the wafer 20 is determined by this change in resistance value. Other manufacturing steps are the same as described above, and the electrode 40 is formed on the -c surface of the chip-like zinc oxide single crystal 30, and an ultraviolet sensor element having the -c surface as the light receiving surface is manufactured.

  FIG. 14 is a diagram showing the ultraviolet sensitivity characteristic of the ultraviolet sensor element, the solid line is the characteristic when the light receiving surface of the chip-like zinc oxide single crystal 30 is the −c plane, and the dotted line is the case when the light receiving surface is the c plane. It is a characteristic. As shown in FIG. 14, when the light-receiving surface of the chip-like zinc oxide single crystal 30 is the -c plane, the value of the photocurrent is increased by 10 times or more than when the light-receiving surface is the c-plane. The photocurrent value responds in a narrow range of 320 to 370 nm when the light receiving surface is the c-plane, whereas it responds in a wide range of 250 to 380 nm when the light receiving surface is the -c plane. Therefore, the light receiving sensitivity is good.

Further, an acceptor layer may be formed on the surface of the chip-shaped zinc oxide single crystal 30, or the electrode 40 may be formed of a plurality of metal layers. FIG. 15 is a side view of a chip in which an acceptor layer is formed and an electrode is formed of a plurality of metal layers.
Nitrogen (N), lithium (Li), sodium (Na), potassium (K), copper (Cu), phosphorus is formed on the surface (-c surface or a surface) that serves as the light receiving surface of the chip-shaped zinc oxide single crystal 30. The acceptor layer 32 is formed by diffusion of impurities such as (P), arsenic (As), and antimony (Sb). By forming the acceptor layer 32, it is possible to reduce the surface recombination rate, to realize an ultraviolet sensor element having a long carrier life and a long diffusion length.

  Next, after a resist pattern is formed on the upper surface of the acceptor layer 32, a titanium thin film 42 is formed to a thickness of 50 nm by a vacuum vapor deposition method. Further, a platinum thin film 44 is formed to a thickness of 250 nm on the upper surface of the titanium thin film 42, Finally, the electrode 40 is formed by lifting off.

  As described above, the ultraviolet sensor element and the manufacturing method thereof according to the present invention have the effect of improving the ultraviolet light receiving sensitivity with a simple structure, and are useful as the ultraviolet sensor element and the manufacturing method thereof.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Zinc oxide single crystal 20 Wafer 30 Chip-shaped zinc oxide single crystal 40 Electrode 50 Chip 60 Stem 61 Mounting base 62 Terminal 64 Bonding wire 70 Cap 72 Ultraviolet transmission filter 100 Tester 102 Metal probe 104 Ultraviolet light emitting diode

Claims (9)

A chip made of zinc oxide single crystal and having a plurality of a-plane exposed surfaces;
And a pair of electrodes which are attached to the chip,
Any one of the a surfaces is a light receiving surface,
The pair of electrodes are attached only to the a-plane that constitutes the light-receiving surface .   2. The ultraviolet sensor element according to claim 1, wherein the electrode is composed of one or more layers of Al, Cr, Zn, Ti, Ru, Pd, Pt, Ni, In, and Au.   The ultraviolet sensor element according to claim 2, wherein the electrode is attached by vapor deposition.   The ultraviolet sensor element according to claim 1, wherein an acceptor is added to the zinc oxide single crystal.   The ultraviolet sensor element according to claim 4, wherein the acceptor is at least one of N, Li, Na, K, Cu, P, As, and Sb. A wafer generation step of generating a wafer by cutting a zinc oxide single crystal ingot so that a plurality of a-planes become exposed surfaces; and
A plurality of sections are formed on any one a-plane of the plurality of a-planes of the wafer, and the a-plane of each section of the wafer is used as a light-receiving surface, and only one a-plane is used as the light-receiving surface of each section. An electrode attachment step of attaching a pair of electrodes;
A method for producing an ultraviolet sensor element, comprising: a chip-forming step of cutting the wafer into chips by cutting each wafer.   The method for manufacturing an ultraviolet sensor element according to claim 6, further comprising a heat treatment step for heat-treating the wafer after the wafer generation step.   8. The method of manufacturing an ultraviolet sensor element according to claim 6, wherein an acceptor is added to the zinc oxide single crystal.   9. The method of manufacturing an ultraviolet sensor element according to claim 8, wherein the acceptor is at least one of N, Li, Na, K, Cu, P, As, and Sb.

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