Towards high operating temperature and small pixel pitch MCT LWIR modules

Holger Lutz; Rainer Breiter; Detlef Eich; Heinrich Figgemeier; Stefan Hanna

doi:10.1117/12.2618780

27 May 2022 Towards high operating temperature and small pixel pitch MCT LWIR modules

Holger Lutz, Rainer Breiter, Detlef Eich, Heinrich Figgemeier, Stefan Hanna

Proceedings Volume 12107, Infrared Technology and Applications XLVIII; 121070T (2022) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2618780
Event: SPIE Defense + Commercial Sensing, 2022, Orlando, Florida, United States

Abstract

In recent years development focus for higher operating temperatures (HOT) and optimized size, weight and power (SWaP) characteristics has been on MWIR modules at AIM. However, HOT as well as small pixel pitch combined with high spatial and thermal resolution is of great interest for LWIR applications, too, e.g. for scenarios with degraded visual environment. Up to now LWIR detector arrays were manufactured in AIM’s mature planar MCT n/p technology and are typically operated at ~75K. In-depth studies of a p/n pixel structure at AIM showed significant reduction of the dark current and lower noisy pixel levels compared to their n-on-p pendants. Encouraged by these results a p/n pixel polarity is currently introduced to LWIR modules using different detector formats and pitch sizes to optimize performance and to increase operating temperature towards 100K. For VGA-format LWIR detector arrays with 15μm pitch a ROIC with p/n pixel polarity combined with a high charge handling capacity (CHC) of ~14Me- is available. With this approach we strive to increase the operating temperature to enable usage of smaller cooler types. Performance data and benefits in SWaP characteristics are discussed. An HD-format (1280x720 elements) 12µm pitch LWIR-module with NETD values of ~30mK and a high frame rate of 120Hz has already been demonstrated. Now electro-optical performance of LWIR detector arrays having a p/n diode polarity and a cutoff-wavelength of up to ~11μm were characterized. An even smaller pixel pitch of 10µm is currently introduced at AIM for LWIR detector arrays in a XGA-format. For the dedicated ROIC a CHC of ~7Me- was realized enabling high thermal resolution of ~30mK. First performance results and key features of the associated IR-module will be presented.

Conference Presentation

Citation Download Citation

Holger Lutz, Rainer Breiter, Detlef Eich, Heinrich Figgemeier, and Stefan Hanna "Towards high operating temperature and small pixel pitch MCT LWIR modules", Proc. SPIE 12107, Infrared Technology and Applications XLVIII, 121070T (27 May 2022); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2618780

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