12&amp;amp;mu;m pixel pitch development for 3-side buttable megapixel MW FPAs

Thorne, Peter; Weller, Harald; Hipwood, L. G.

doi:10.1117/12.919075

Cited by 8 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…By tilting the detector, the ground sampling distance is achieved with a GSD of 50m. The recent progress of uncooled large format and small pixel pitch IR array detectors is remarkable [1][2], therefore we propose to adopt a staring imaging mode so as to achieve a high spatial resolution of 30-50m.…”

Section: Design Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, recent progress of MEMS technology enables high-resolution and large format devices [1][2][3]. Adversely, sensitivity of the uncooled IR-FPA is lower than that of HgCdTe based detector arrays and the detector time constant is of the order of ~10ms or more, which constrains the sampling time and thus limits the resolution for satellite application.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A compact thermal infrared imaging radiometer with high spatial resolution and wide swath for a small satellite using a large format uncooled infrared focal plane array

Takagi¹,

Sakuma²,

Kikuchi³

et al. 2014

SPIE Proceedings

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In this paper, we present a feasibility study for the potential of a high spatial resolution and wide swath thermal infrared (TIR) imaging radiometer for a small satellite using a large format uncooled infrared focal plane array (IR-FPA). The preliminary TIR imaging radiometer designs were performed. One is a panchromatic (mono-band) imaging radiometer (8-12µm) with a large format 2000 x 1000 pixels uncooled IR-FPA with a pixel pitch of 15 µm. The other is a multiband imaging radiometer (8.8µm, 10.8µm, 11.4µm). This radiometer is employed separate optics and detectors for each wave band. It is based on the use of a 640 x 480 pixels uncooled IR-FPA with a pixel pitch of 25 µm. The thermal time constant of an uncooled IR-FPA is approximately 10-16ms, and introduces a constraint to the satellite operation to achieve better signal-to-noise ratio, MTF and linearity performances. The study addressed both on-ground time-delayintegration binning and staring imaging solutions, although a staring imaging was preferred after trade-off. The staring imaging requires that the line of sight of the TIR imaging radiometer gazes at a target area during the acquisition time of the image, which can be obtained by rotating the satellite or a steering mirror around the pitch axis. The single band radiometer has been designed to yield a 30m ground sample distance over a 30km swath width from a satellite altitude of 500km. The radiometric performance, enhanced with staring imaging, is expected to yield a NETD less than 0.5K for a 300K ground scene. The multi-band radiometer has three spectral bands with spatial resolution of 50m and swath width of 24km. The radiometric performance is expected to yield a NETD less than 0.85K. We also showed some preliminary simulation results on volcano, desert/urban scenes, and wildfire.

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Section: Design Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A compact thermal infrared imaging radiometer with high spatial resolution and wide swath for a small satellite using a large format uncooled infrared focal plane array

Takagi¹,

Sakuma²,

Kikuchi³

et al. 2014

SPIE Proceedings

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“…In addition to the single waveband devices, MCT grown by MOVPE on GaAs has been used to fabricate dual waveband focal plane arrays (FPAs) where the response of each pixel can be switched between the MWIR and LWIR wavebands under the control of the bias polarity. The MOVPE technology has also enabled pixel sizes to be reduced [1], [2], [3] achieving higher resolutions [4] whilst operating temperatures have been increased [5], [6] to deliver lower power consumptions [7] and the reduced costs demanded by system designers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Developments in reduced pixel geometries with MOVPE grown MCT arrays

McEwen¹,

Jeckells²,

Bains³

et al. 2015

SPIE Proceedings

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The fabrication of high performance infrared detectors using mercury cadmium telluride (MCT) grown on GaAs substrates by Metal Organic Vapour Phase Epitaxy (MOVPE) is now an established mature production process at Selex ES. Recent years have seen a substantial reduction in MCT pixel sizes, driven by system requirements for increased resolutions, lower power consumption and reduced costs. From initial devices with 30µm pixels, previous developments have produced MOVPE grown MCT arrays of 24µm, 20µm and 16µm pixels with response in short, long, mid and dual wavebands (SWIR, LWIR, MWIR and DWIR). High definition (HD) format and multi-megapixel arrays of 12µm MWIR pixels have also been produced using MOVPE grown MCT. The mesa structure of MOVPE grown MCT pixels inherently controls optical scattering, inter-pixel cross-talk, carrier diffusion and other blurring defects to negligible levels. This allows the goal for pixel size reduction to ultimately be determined by optical diffraction and NyquistShannon sampling criteria alone. This paper discusses the development of a new MCT detector at Selex ES, introducing the next generation of small pixels on an 8µm pitch. Transition to smaller silicon design rules has enabled the pixel size reduction in the read-out integrated circuit (ROIC) to be achieved with minimum sacrifice of storage capacity. The ROIC has a completely digital control with on-chip digital generation of photodiode bias voltage. Low power proximity electronics providing a fully digitised output have been developed to ease interface with the detector. Characteristics of the pixel design together with measured performance of the detector and its application to infrared sensor development, including updates of standard definition (SD) products to HD and better performance, will be addressed.

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“…The lens was to be ƒ/4.0 to provide headroom on the diffraction limit of the Falcon 720 detector. However, an ƒ/4 lens with NFoV EFL of 960mm requires a 240mm clear The new Selex ES Falcon 720 infrared detector is an evolution of the large-area Falcon 1080 focal plane detector described previously [1,2] . The Falcon 720 is based on the same 12µm pitch MOVPE mesa pixel design and 0.35µm silicon IC technology as its predecessor but with a 1280×720 array format.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A long-range camera based on an HD MCT array of 12μm pixels

et al. 2014

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The development of a new thermal imaging camera, for long range surveillance applications, is described together with the enabling technology. Previous publications have described the development of large arrays of 12µm pixels using Metal Organic Vapour Phase Epitaxy (MOVPE) grown Mercury Cadmium Telluride (MCT) for wide area surveillance applications. This technology has been leveraged to produce the low cost 1280x720 pixel Medium Wave IR focal plane array at the core of the new camera. Also described is the newly developed, high performance, x12 continuous zoom lens which, together with the detector, achieves an Instantaneous Field of View (IFOV) of 12.5µrad/pixel enabling long detection, recognition and identification ranges. Novel image processing features, including the turbulence mitigation algorithms deployed in the camera processing electronics, are also addressed. Resultant imagery and performance will be presented.

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12&mu;m pixel pitch development for 3-side buttable megapixel MW FPAs

Cited by 8 publications

References 0 publications

A compact thermal infrared imaging radiometer with high spatial resolution and wide swath for a small satellite using a large format uncooled infrared focal plane array

A compact thermal infrared imaging radiometer with high spatial resolution and wide swath for a small satellite using a large format uncooled infrared focal plane array

Developments in reduced pixel geometries with MOVPE grown MCT arrays

A long-range camera based on an HD MCT array of 12μm pixels

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