Extraction of impurities from structures containing mercury, cadmium, zinc, or tellurium, and impurities
AssigneeRaytheon Company
InventorsDavid R. Rhiger, Sanghamitra Sen
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Impurities are extracted from a thin-film device structure based on mercury, cadmium, zinc, and/or tellurium, such as HgCdTe, CdTe, CdZnTe, or HgCdZnTe. The impurities are extracted by furnishing a sink medium comprising molten bismuth, and contacting the contaminated structure to the sink medium for a period of time sufficiently long that impurities diffuse out of the structure and into the bismuth for removal. The molten bismuth may additionally contain small amounts of one or more of the major components of the structure (mercury, cadmium, zinc, and/or tellurium) to inhibit loss of these elements from the structure.
Claims19
A method for extracting impurities from a contaminated thin-film structure based on mercury, cadmium, zinc, or tellurium, comprising the steps of:
- furnishing the contaminated thin-film structure comprising a constituent element selected from the group consisting of mercury, cadmium, zinc, and tellurium, and mixtures thereof, and having impurities therein;
- preparing a sink medium comprising a molten bath of bismuth and at least one added constituent element selected from the group consisting of mercury, cadmium, zinc, and tellurium, and mixtures thereof, the step of preparing including the substeps of
- furnishing bismuth,
- furnishing the at least one added constituent element from a source other than the contaminated thin-film structure, and
- mixing the at least one added constituent element and the bismuth together;
- and
- immersing the contaminated structure into the molten bath of the sink medium for a period of time.
A method for extracting impurities from a contaminated thin-film structure based on mercury, cadmium, zinc, or tellurium, comprising the steps of:
- furnishing the contaminated thin-film structure comprising a thin-film device deposited upon a device substrate and comprising a constituent element selected from the group consisting of mercury, cadmium, zinc, and tellurium, and mixtures thereof, and having impurities therein;
- preparing a sink medium of a molten bath comprising molten bismuth;
- and
- immersing the contaminated structure into the molten bath of the sink medium for a period of time of at least about 10 minutes.
A method for extracting impurities from a thin-film contaminated device based on mercury, cadmium, zinc, or tellurium, comprising the steps of:
- furnishing the thin-film contaminated device comprising an element selected from the group consisting of mercury, cadmium, zinc, and tellurium, and having impurities therein, the contaminated device comprising a layer structure with a thickness of no more than about 200 micrometers;
- furnishing a sink medium comprising molten bismuth;
- and
- contacting the contaminated device to the sink medium for a period of time.
A method for extracting impurities from a thin-film contaminated device based on mercury, cadmium, zinc, or tellurium, comprising the steps of:
- furnishing the thin-film contaminated device having impurities therein, the contaminated device comprising a layer structure having at least one layer selected from the group consisting of HgCdTe and HgCdZnTe;
- furnishing a sink medium comprising molten bismuth and mercury, under an inert atmosphere having an atmospheric concentration of mercury therein;
- and
- contacting the contaminated device to the sink medium for a period of time.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.