Development of HgCdTe large format MBE arrays and noise-free high speed MOVPE EAPD arrays for ground based NIR astronomy

Finger, Gert; Baker, Ian; Downing, Mark; Álvarez, Domingo; Ives, Derek; Mehrgan, Leander; Meyer, Manfred; Stegmeier, Joerg; Weller, Harald

doi:10.1117/12.2304270

Cited by 6 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…At short integration times in the millisecond range the SAPHIRA array achieves subelectron noise and the APD gain is 700 at a bias voltage of 19V. The array at high APD gain still has superb cosmetic quality and achieves a readout noise of less than 0.2 electrons rms with Fowler sampling at a frame rate of 1KHz, as has been shown in the previous ICSO conference [12] and at SPIE [6]. The measured excess noise factor is close to unity and the avalanche gain process is almost noiseless because HgCdTe is a direct semiconductor.…”

Section: Test Resultssupporting

confidence: 58%

On-sky performance verification of near infrared eAPD technology for wavefront sensing at ground based telescopes, demonstration of e-APD pixel performance to improve the sensitivity of large science focal planes and possibility to use this technology in space

Finger

Baker

Álvarez

et al. 2019

International Conference on Space Optics — ICSO 2018

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On-sky performance verification of near infrared eAPD technology for wavefront sensing at ground based telescopes, demonstration of e-APD pixel performance to improve the sensitivity of large science focal planes and possibility to use this technology in G. FingerABSTRACT Ground based near infrared adaptive optics as well as fringe tracking for coherent beam combination in optical interferometry required the development of high-speed sensors. Because of the high speed, a large analog bandwidth is needed. The short exposure times result in small signal levels which require noiseless detection. Both of these conflicting requirements cannot be met by state-of-the-art conventional CMOS technology of near infrared arrays as has been attempted previously[1] [2]. The HgCdTe electron avalanche photo diode (eAPD) technology is the only way to overcome the limiting CMOS noise barrier of near infrared sensors. Therefore, ESO funded the development of the near infrared SAPHIRA 320x256 pixel e-APD arrays at LEONARDO [3][4][5][6] [7]. SAPHIRA arrays have now become the devices of choice for control loops with unsurpassed performance [21]. This has also been demonstrated by the four wavefront sensors and the fringe tracker deployed in the VLTI instrument GRAVITY which set a new sensitivity standard in infrared interferometry [8] [9]. It has also been demonstrated that APD arrays have extremely low dark current (1E-3 electrons/s/pixel) and may outperform conventional CMOS arrays for 100 second integrations when operated with moderate APD gains. For AO systems of extremely large telescopes and for co-phasing segmented mirror telescopes larger formats are needed. Therefore, a 512x512 pixel SAPHIRA array with 64 parallel video outputs optimized for pyramid wavefront sensing is in development. Since the SAPHIRA array has successfully passed radiation hardness testing it soon may be used for future instruments in space. Apart from the large array common voltage for high APD gain it can also be operated with voltages compatible with the space qualified SIDECAR ASIC [10].

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Section: Test Resultssupporting

confidence: 58%

On-sky performance verification of near infrared eAPD technology for wavefront sensing at ground based telescopes, demonstration of e-APD pixel performance to improve the sensitivity of large science focal planes and possibility to use this technology in space

Finger

Baker

Álvarez

et al. 2019

International Conference on Space Optics — ICSO 2018

Self Cite

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“…Another crucial step in the development of HgCdTe technology was the implementation of avalanche processes for signal amplification, enabling unprecedented sensitivities to very small number of photons, thanks to this gain mechanism. A typical avalanche-photodetector (APD) architecture is shown in figure 10(a): the photogenerated carriers are multiplied via impact ionization in a high-field, narrow-bandgap region [100,101]. For avalanche to take place, the kinetic energy of the accelerated carrier before ionization must be E 0 > α E G , where α > 1.5 (3.2 for electron in Si) [102].…”

Section: Semiconductor Devicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recent advances in infrared imagers: toward thermodynamic and quantum limits of photon sensitivity

Bianconi

Mohseni

2020

Rep. Prog. Phys.

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BackgroundObservation of infrared radiation has historically been one of the most prominent ways to better understand different phenomena in our Universe. Infrared imaging however, has seen massive growth in number of applications during the past few decades. This rapid growth has fueled exciting technological developments that could spur new paradigm-shifting advancements in infrared detection and the numerous fields related to it. This review intends to focus on the most important recent progresses in the field. However, in light of recent controversies in proper measurement and formulation of photon

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“…Over the ensuing years, the scientific requirements for increasing precision and resolution led to larger detector arrays [ 4 ], higher accuracy through the suppression of the detector dark currents [ 5 , 6 ] and increasing dynamic range [ 7 ]. With improved readout electronic components [ 8 ], linearity could be increased and noise minimized to cover and exceed the current generation of control and signal conversion components [ 9 , 10 ] under development.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Robust 96.6-dB-SNDR 50-kHz-Bandwidth Switched-Capacitor Delta-Sigma Modulator for IR Imagers in Space Instrumentation

Dei

Sutula

Cisneros

et al. 2017

Sensors

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Infrared imaging technology, used both to study deep-space bodies’ radiation and environmental changes on Earth, experienced constant improvements in the last few years, pushing data converter designers to face new challenges in terms of speed, power consumption and robustness against extremely harsh operating conditions. This paper presents a 96.6-dB-SNDR (Signal-to-Noise-plus-Distortion Ratio) 50-kHz-bandwidth fourth-order single-bit switched-capacitor delta-sigma modulator for ADC operating at 1.8 V and consuming 7.9 mW fit for space instrumentation. The circuit features novel Class-AB single-stage switched variable-mirror amplifiers (SVMAs) enabling low-power operation, as well as low sensitivity to both process and temperature deviations for the whole modulator. The physical implementation resulted in a 1.8-mm2 chip integrated in a standard 0.18-μm 1-poly-6-metal (1P6M) CMOS technology, and it reaches a 164.6-dB Schreier figure of merit from experimental SNDR measurements without making use of any clock bootstrapping, analog calibration, nor digital compensation technique. When coupled to a 2048×2048 IR imager, the current design allows more than 50 frames per minute with a resolution of 16 effective number of bits (ENOB) while consuming less than 300 mW.

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Development of HgCdTe large format MBE arrays and noise-free high speed MOVPE EAPD arrays for ground based NIR astronomy

Cited by 6 publications

References 5 publications

On-sky performance verification of near infrared eAPD technology for wavefront sensing at ground based telescopes, demonstration of e-APD pixel performance to improve the sensitivity of large science focal planes and possibility to use this technology in space

On-sky performance verification of near infrared eAPD technology for wavefront sensing at ground based telescopes, demonstration of e-APD pixel performance to improve the sensitivity of large science focal planes and possibility to use this technology in space

Recent advances in infrared imagers: toward thermodynamic and quantum limits of photon sensitivity

A Robust 96.6-dB-SNDR 50-kHz-Bandwidth Switched-Capacitor Delta-Sigma Modulator for IR Imagers in Space Instrumentation

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