Stability characterization of high-sensitivity silicon-based EUV photodiodes in a detrimental industrial environment

In industrial applications based on extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) radiation, a periodic cleaning of the surface of the used EUV photodetectors is required to prevent the build up of carbon contaminating layers. Such applications can be found in synchrotron measurements, space payload equipment, next-generation EUV lithography. One way to do this is to use aggressive gasses, such as hydrogen radicals (H*). In this paper, we report excellent robustness to detrimental working conditions of a Si-based boron-doped ultra shallow junction photodiode (B-layer diode) fabricated by a pure boron chemical vapor deposition (CVD) technology. A series of surface cleaning tests with filament-enhanced H* confirm that the performance of the B-layer diode is stable with only a minor change of the electrical characteristics.