Raytheon Systems Company has developed a prototype infrared imaging rifle-sight using an uncooled, microbolometer FPA. The high-sensitivity FPA (SBRC-151) used in the Longwavelength Staring Sensor (LWSS) was developed by Raytheon Infrared Center of Excellence (IR COE). The NETD (noise equivalent temperature difference) sensitivity of the camera has been measured at 14 mK with f 1 optics and at 74 mK with an f/2.1 aperture stop. Excellent imagery has been demonstrated with the f/2.1 aperture. The 320 x 240 FPA utilizes a high-yield CMOS readout integrated circuit (ROIC) that achieves high sensitivity, low output nonuniformity, and large scene dynamic range. The ROIC provides multi-level, on-chip nonuniformity correction and on-chip temperature compensation. The FPA has 50 |im x 50 |im pixels and operates at frame rates up to 60 Hz with a single output.The LWSS was characterized by the US Army's NVESD in 1997 using an earlier version of the SBRC-151 FPA. The NVESD measurements validated the Raytheon NETD data. The NVESD evaluation also demonstrated outstanding MRT and spatial noise characteristics.The VO x microbolometer detectors are produced at the Raytheon IR COE facility in Santa Barbara, CA using an advanced dry-etch fabrication process. In addition to the LWSS project, the IR COE has initiated production of the microbolometer FPAs (AE-189) for commercial applications. Over 600 FPAs have been produced on this project, and data is presented for the first 250 FPAs that have been packaged and tested. The pixel operability of the production radiometer FPAs (AE-189) is typically greater than 99.9%.

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Thin silicon nitride films ͑less than 20 nm͒ deposited on ͑100͒ silicon substrates via low pressure chemical vapor deposition ͑LPCVD͒ at three temperatures ͑730, 760, and 825°C͒ were analyzed by spectroscopic ellipsometry ͑SE͒, attenuated total reflection ͑ATR͒, and other tools. Films appeared to have similar optical bandgaps ͑ϳ5 eV͒, and the values decreased slightly with the higher deposition temperature. Second ionic mass spectroscopy results showed that a similar amount of oxygen exists in the interface between silicon and silicon nitride. ATR spectra showed no sign of Si-H bonds and decreasing N-H bonds at higher deposition temperature in the thin films. The electrical properties of the films are also discussed.Silicon nitride films have been widely used in very large scale integration ͑VLSI͒ technologies, such as diffusion mask, passivation, antireflection coatings, and gate dielectrics. 1-4 Various processing methods of silicon nitride films were reported, such as thermal nitridation, 5 atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition ͑CVD͒, 6 plasma-enhanced CVD ͑PECVD͒, 7 hot wall CVD ͑HWCVD͒, 8 and low pressure CVD ͑LPCVD͒. 9 Among the fabrication techniques, LPCVD is commonly chosen. Even though LPCVD nitride films cannot be used for gate dielectrics due to their poor interface quality and high bulk trap density, they are widely chosen for applications such as diffusion mask, nitride spacers, etc. We studied the LPCVD silicon nitride thin films deposited by using a mixture of dichlorosilane ͑DCS͒ and ammonia (NH 3 ) with nitrogen as dilute at three temperatures in a conventional batch reactor.The purpose of this work was to analyze the optical properties of thin to ultrathin ͑below 10 nm͒ silicon nitride films via spectroscopic ellipsometry ͑SE͒ analysis and directly study the bond structure ͑es-pecially bonds with hydrogen such as Si-H and N-H͒ of the films by attenuated total reflection ͑ATR͒. SE is a nondestructive optical technique used to determine the optical properties of substrates and thin films based on measuring the polarization ellipse of a light beam reflected off a sample at a given angle. From this data, the complex index of refraction and film thickness can be determined using a computer model fit. ATR provides a way of directly analyzing very thin films with much higher sensitivity than normal Fourier transform infrared ͑FTIR͒ analysis. A schematic plot of ATR measurement is shown in Fig. 1. The infrared radiation signal penetrated into the monolayer film only once during the measurement. Typical thickness for normal FTIR analysis is equal or larger than 1000 Å to get desirable signal noise ratio. However, the actually used films in electronic devices may not necessarily meet this thickness requirement. In this work, all the films' thicknesses are less than 20 nm. By using ATR and Woollam SE analysis we can directly study the optical properties of these ultrathin nitride films. Other films properties like electrical data were also discussed. ExperimentalSingle crystal ͑100͒ p-type silico...