Status and applications of linear-mode avalanche photodiode arrays in HgCdTe at Leonardo, UK

Zemaityte, Egle; Owton, Dan; Maxey, C. D.; Gordon, J. L.; Isgar, Vincent; Hipwood, L. G.; Hicks, Matthew R.; Barnes, Keith; Thorne, Peter S.; Baker, Ian

doi:10.1117/12.2634331

Cited by 3 publications

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“…For this endeavor, large‐format eAPD arrays have been developed with diode structures adapted to science‐grade arrays and the same pixel pitch of 15 μm as the Hawaii‐4RG arrays. The 1Kx1K array Ike Pono is funded by NASA and evaluated at the University of Hawaii in the Institute for Astronomy (Claveau et al 2022) and the 2Kx2K array IBEX is funded by ESA (Feautrier et al 2022; Shortt, 2022; Zemaityte et al 2022).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Scientific detector workshop 2022 on‐sky performance verification of near‐infrared e⁻APD technology for wavefront sensing and demonstration of e⁻APD pixel performance to improve the sensitivity of large science focal planes

et al. 2023

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Near‐infrared adaptive optics as well as fringe tracking for coherent beam combination in optical interferometry require the development of high‐speed sensors. Because of the high speed, a large analog bandwidth is required. The short exposure times result in small signal levels which require noiseless detection. Both requirements cannot be met by state‐of‐the‐art conventional CMOS technology of near‐infrared arrays as has been attempted previously. A total of five near‐infrared SAPHIRA 320 × 256 pixel HgCdTe e−APD arrays have been deployed in the wavefront sensors and in the fringe tracker of the VLTI instrument GRAVITY. The current limiting magnitude for coherent exposures with GRAVITY is mk = 19, which is made possible with ADP technology. New avalanche photo‐diode array (APD) developments since GRAVITY include the extension of the spectral sensitivity to the wavelength range from 0.8 to 2.5 μm. After GRAVITY a larger format array with 512 × 512 pixels has been developed for both AO applications at the ELT and for long integration times. Since dark currents of <10−3 e−/s have been demonstrated with 1Kx1K e−APD arrays and 2Kx2K e−APD arrays have already been developed, the possibilities and adaptations of e−APD technology to provide noiseless large‐format science‐grade arrays for long integration times are also discussed.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The small format 320 × 256 pixel SAPHIRA array meets all requirements for the VLT and other major telescopes needed for infrared wavefront sensors, lucky imaging, and fringe tracking (Goebel et al 2018; Hall et al 2016; Vaccarella et al 2020; Zemaityte et al 2022).…”

Section: Large‐format Saphira Array For Extreme Adaptive Opticsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Scientific detector workshop 2022 on‐sky performance verification of near‐infrared e⁻APD technology for wavefront sensing and demonstration of e⁻APD pixel performance to improve the sensitivity of large science focal planes

et al. 2023

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Progress at Leonardo UK in APD array technology development for high-speed 2D linear mode photon-counting applications

Thorne,

Turner

2024

Infrared Technology and Applications L

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Leonardo UK high performance short waveband infrared Avalanche Photo Diode (APD) array technology is being developed for high-speed 2D linear mode photon counting, active imaging and other low flux or pulse receiver applications. APD arrays have been re-engineered for high speed and sensitivity, and fabricated in HgCdTe (MCT) using Metal Organic Vapour Phase Epitaxy (MOVPE) grown on low cost gallium arsenide (GaAs) substrates. MOVPE enables precise band gap engineering of the MCT heterostructure to implement designs that can suppress dark current, and achieve high APD gain and wide spectral responsivity at the required operating temperature. Such array structures incorporate a proprietary back plane to help reduce sensitivity of the array to de-bias or time constant effects that can otherwise reduce sensitivity, dynamic photo response, or introduce cross talk effects across the array. This paper reports technical progress and preliminary results. Array characteristics have been determined. Measuring attenuated laser pulses, a high-speed 2D array has been evaluated using a 500 ns gate. The sensor's pixel output values settle to discrete bands pulse to pulse. A histogram of the values over the range 0 -10 photons shows a characteristic Poissonian form indicating high-speed linear mode photon counting sensitivity. Future developments are identified.

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Glow reduction of ultra-low noise LmAPDs: towards photon counting infrared arrays

Huber,

Bottom,

Claveau

et al. 2024

X-Ray, Optical, and Infrared Detectors for Astronomy XI

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Spectroscopy and direct-imaging of ultra-faint targets such as Earth-like exoplanets and high redshift galaxies are among the primary goals of upcoming large scale astronomy projects like the Habitable World Observatory (HWO). Such objectives pose extreme instrumental challenges, in particular on detectors where dark currents lower than 1 e-/pixel/kilosecond and read noise less than 1 e-/pixel/frame will have to be achieved on large format arrays. Some technologies meet these requirements at optical wavelengths, but none do in the infrared. With this goal in mind, the University of Hawaii has partnered with Leonardo to develop linear-mode avalanche photodiodes (LmAPDs). In this paper, we report recent tests performed on LmAPDs, where we measure a ROIC glow of ∼ 0.01 e-/pixel/frame, without which the intrinsic dark current is essentally zero (< 0.1 e-/pixel/kilosecond). We show that at high gain, these devices are capable of detecting single photons.

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Status and applications of linear-mode avalanche photodiode arrays in HgCdTe at Leonardo, UK

Cited by 3 publications

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Scientific detector workshop 2022 on‐sky performance verification of near‐infrared e⁻APD technology for wavefront sensing and demonstration of e⁻APD pixel performance to improve the sensitivity of large science focal planes

Scientific detector workshop 2022 on‐sky performance verification of near‐infrared e⁻APD technology for wavefront sensing and demonstration of e⁻APD pixel performance to improve the sensitivity of large science focal planes

Progress at Leonardo UK in APD array technology development for high-speed 2D linear mode photon-counting applications

Glow reduction of ultra-low noise LmAPDs: towards photon counting infrared arrays

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Status and applications of linear-mode avalanche photodiode arrays in HgCdTe at Leonardo, UK

Cited by 3 publications

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Scientific detector workshop 2022 on‐sky performance verification of near‐infrared e−APD technology for wavefront sensing and demonstration of e−APD pixel performance to improve the sensitivity of large science focal planes

Scientific detector workshop 2022 on‐sky performance verification of near‐infrared e−APD technology for wavefront sensing and demonstration of e−APD pixel performance to improve the sensitivity of large science focal planes

Progress at Leonardo UK in APD array technology development for high-speed 2D linear mode photon-counting applications

Glow reduction of ultra-low noise LmAPDs: towards photon counting infrared arrays

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Scientific detector workshop 2022 on‐sky performance verification of near‐infrared e⁻APD technology for wavefront sensing and demonstration of e⁻APD pixel performance to improve the sensitivity of large science focal planes

Scientific detector workshop 2022 on‐sky performance verification of near‐infrared e⁻APD technology for wavefront sensing and demonstration of e⁻APD pixel performance to improve the sensitivity of large science focal planes