A monolithic integrated medium wave Mercury Cadmium Telluride polarimetric focal plane array

A medium wave(MW)640×512(25μm)Mercury Cadmium Telluride(HgCdTe)polarimetric focal plane array(FPA)was demonstrated.The micro-polarizer array(MPA)has been carefully designed in terms of line grating structure optimization and crosstalk suppression.A monolithic fabrication process with low damage was explored,which was verified to be compatible well with HgCdTe devices.After monolithic integration of MPA,NETD<9.5 mK was still maintained.Furthermore,to figure out the underlying mechanism that dominat⁃ed the extinction ratio(ER),specialized MPA layouts were designed,and the crosstalk was experimentally vali⁃dated as the major source that impacted ER.By expanding opaque regions at pixel edges to 4μm,crosstalk rates from adjacent pixels could be effectively reduced to approximately 2%,and promising ERs ranging from 17.32 to 27.41 were implemented.

Computer Simulation of Compensation Method for Infrared Focal Plane Array

A major motivation for this work is to investigate a method of computer simulation for compensating fixed pattern noise of the infrared focal plane arrays. A mathematical model of the output signal of focal plane array was established; a compensating algorithm utilizing reference source was derived and simulating programs were designed. The images of compensating process verify the influence of nonuniformity of responsibility and offset on fixed pattern noise. The result show that simulating method of investigating compensation technology for focal plane arrays is feasible, the generated images and methods can be used to the study of image recognition.

Very long wavelength infrared focal plane arrays with 50% cutoff wavelength based on type-Ⅱ In As/GaSb superlattice

A very long wavelength infrared（VLWIR） focal plane array based on In As/Ga Sb type-Ⅱ super-lattices is demonstrated on a Ga Sb substrate. A hetero-structure photodiode was grown with a 50% cut-off wavelength of 15.2 μm, at 77 K.A 320×256 VLWIR focal plane array with this design was fabricated and characterized. The peak quantum efficiency without an antireflective coating was 25.74% at the reverse bias voltage of-20 mV, yielding a peak specific detectivity of 5.89×10^10cm·Hz^1/2·W^-1. The operability and the uniformity of response were 89% and 83.17%. The noise-equivalent temperature difference at 65 K exhibited a minimum at 21.4 mK, corresponding to an average value of 56.3 mK.

Precision integration of grating-based polarizers onto focal plane arrays of near-infrared photovoltaic detectors for enhanced contrast polarimetric imaging

Polarimetric imaging enhances the ability to distinguish objects from a bright background by detecting their particular polarization status,which offers another degree of freedom in infrared remote sensing.However,to scale up by monolithically integrating grating-based polarizers onto a focal plane array(FPA)of infrared detectors,fundamental technical obstacles must be overcome,including reductions of the extinction ratio by the misalignment between the polarizer and the detector,grating line width fluctuations,the line edge roughness,etc.This paper reports the authors’latest achievements in overcoming those problems by solving key technical issues regarding the integration of large-scale polarizers onto the chips of FPAs with individual indium gallium arsenide/indium phosphide(In Ga As/In P)sensors as the basic building blocks.Polarimetric and photovoltaic chips with divisions of the focal plane of 540×4 pixels and 320×256 superpixels have been successfully manufactured.Polarimetric imaging with enhanced contrast has been demonstrated.The progress made in this work has opened up a broad avenue toward industrialization of high quality polarimetric imaging in infrared wavelengths.

Thermal and mechanical characterizations of a substrate-free focal plane array

We propose a substrate-free focal plane array （FPA） and the microcantilevers extend from a supporting frame. in this paper. The solid substrate is completely removed, Using finite element analysis, the thermal and mechanical characterizations of the substrate-free FPA are presented. Because of the large decrease in thermal conductance, the supporting frame is temperature dependent, which brings out a unique feature： the lower the thermal conductance of the supporting frame is, the higher the energy conversion efficiency in the substrate-free FPA will be. The results from the finite element analyses are consistent with our measurements： two types of substrate-free FPAs with pixel sizes of 200×200 and 60×60 um^2 are implemented in the proposed infrared detector. The noise equivalent temperature difference （NETD） values are experimentally measured to be 520 and 300 mK respectively. Further refinements are considered in various aspects, and the substrate-free FPA with a pixel size of 30×30 um^2 has a potential of achieving an NETD value of 10 mK.

Testing System Based on Virtual Instrument for Readout Circuit of Infrared Focal Plane Array

Readout integrated circuit(ROIC) is one of the most important components for hybrid-integrated infrared focal plane array(IRFPA). And it should be tested to ensure the product yield before bonding. This paper presents an on-wafer testing system based on Labview for ROIC of IRFPA. The quantitative measurement can be conducted after determining whether there is row crosstalk or not in this system. This low-cost system has the benefits of easy expansion, upgrading, and flexibility, and it has been employed in the testing of several kinds of IRFPA ROICs to measure the parameters of saturated output voltage, non-uniformity, dark noise and dynamic range, etc.

Etching Process of Back-Illuminated ZnO Ultraviolet Focal Plane Array Imagers

Etching process of back-illuminated ZnO ultraviolet focal plane array imagers was investigated. The etching result of 128 × 128 array ,in which the area of unit ceil was 25μm × 25μm, was studied. The profile angle was approximately 80°. There was a linear relationship between the etching depth and the etching time. The dependence of etching rate on NH4Cl solution concentration was also studied. The photoresponsivity of the array＇s unit cells was measured. The UV-to- visible rejection ratio was around 60 ： 1.

Growth and fabrication of a mid-wavelength infrared focal plane array based on type-II InAs/GaSb superlattices

We present the fabrication of a mid-wavelength infrared focal plane array （FPA） based on type-II InAs/GaSb strain layer superlattices （SLs）. The detectors contain a 400-period 8 ML InAs/8 ML GaSb SL active layer, which is grown by solid source molecular beam epitaxy on GaSb （100） N type substrates. Lattice mismatch between the superlattices and GaSb substrate achieves 148.9 ppm. The full width at half maximum of the first or- der satellite peak from X-ray diffraction was 28 arcsec. Single element detectors and FPA with a 128 x 128 pixels were fabricated using citric acid based solution wet chemical etching. Chemical and physical passivation effectively reduces the surface leakage and this process was characterized by I-V measurement. The devices showed a 50% cut-off wavelength of 4.73 μm at 77 K. The photodiode exhibited an RoA of 103 f2. cm2. The FPA was characterized with an integration time of 0.5 ms and F/2.0 optics at 77 K and the average blackbody detectivity of the detectors is 2.01 × 10^9 cm.Hz^1/2/W.

A substrate-free optical readout focal plane array with a heat sink structure

A substrate-ffee optical readout focal plane array （FPA） operating in 8-12 um with a heat sink structure （HSS） was fabricated and its performance was tested. The temperature distribution of the FPA with an HSS investigated by using a commercial FLIR IR camera shows excellent uniformity. The thermal cross-talk effect existing in traditional substrate-free FPAs was eliminated effectively. The heat sink is fabricated successfully by electroplating copper, which provides high thermal capacity and high thermal conductivity, on the frame of substrate-free FPA. The FPA was tested in the optical-readout system, the results show that the response and NETD are 13.6 grey/K （F / # = 0.8） and 588 inK, respectively.

A novel MEMS-based focal plane array for infrared imaging

On the basis of opto-mechanical effect and micro electromechanical system(MEMS)technology,a novel substrate-free focal plane array(FPA)with the thermal isolated structure for uncooled infrared imaging is developed,even as alternate evaporated Au on SiN cantilever is used for thermal isolation.A human thermal image is obtained successfully by using the infrared imaging system composed of the FPA and optical detecting system.The experiment results show that the realization of thermal isolation structure in substrate-free FPA increases the temperature rise of the deflecting leg effectively,whereas the noise equivalent temperature difference(NETD)is about 200 mK.

New Dynamic Algorithm for IRFPA Bad Pixel Detection and Compensation Based on Statistics

Based on the analysis to the behavior of bad pixels, a statistics-based auto-detecting and compensation algorithm for bad pixels is proposed. The correcting process is divided into two stages： bad pixel detection and bad pixel compensation. The proposed detection algorithm is a combination of median filtering and statistic method. Single frame median filtering is used to locate approximate map, then statistic method and threshold value is used to get the accurate location map of bad pixels. When the bad pixel detection is done, neighboring pixel replacement algorithm is used to compensate them in real-time. The effectiveness of this approach is test- ed by applying it to I-IgCATe infrared video. Experiments on real infrared imaging sequences demonstrate that the proposed algorithm requires only a few frames to obtain high quality corrections. It is easy to combine with traditional static methods, update the pre-defined location map in real-time.

Adaptive nonuniformity correction for IRFPA sensors based on neural network framework

For infrared focal plane graded during signal acquisition array sensors, imagery is departicularly nonuniformity. In this paper, an adaptive nonuniformity correction technique is proposed which simultaneously estimates detector-level and readout- channel-level correction parameters using neural network approaches. Firstly, an improved neural network framework is designed to compute the desired output. Secondly, an adaptive learning rate rule is used in the gain and offset parameter estimation process. Experimental results show the proposed algorithm can achieve a faster convergence speed and better stability, remove nonuniformity and track parameters drift effectively, and present a good adaptability to scene changes and nonuniformity conditions.

Laser beam induced current microscopy and photocurrent mapping for junction characterization of infrared photodetectors

For non-destructive optical characterization, laser beam induced current(LBIC) microscopy has been developed into as a quantitative tool to examine individual photodiodes within a large pixel array. Two-dimensional LBIC microscopy, also generally called photocurrent mapping(PC mapping), can provide spatially resolved information about local electrical properties and p-n junction formation in photovoltaic infrared(including visible light) photodetectors from which it is possible to extract material and device parameters such as junction area, junction depth, diffusion length, leakage current position and minority carrier diffusion length etc. This paper presents a comprehensive review of research background, operating principle, fundamental issues, and applications of LBIC or PC mapping.

Simulation of thermal processes in metamaterial millimeter-wave to infrared converter for millimeter-wave imager

The main characteristics of millimeter-wave(MM-wave)image detector were simulated by means of accurate numerical modeling of thermophysical processes in a metamaterial MM-to-IR converter.The converter represents a multilayer structure consisting of an ultra thin resonant metamaterial absorber and a perfect emissive layer.The absorber consists of a dielectric self-supporting film that is metallized from both sides.A micropattern is fabricated from one side.Resonant absorption of the MM waves induces the converter heating that yields enhancement of IR emission from the emissive layer.IR emission is detected by IR camera.In this contribution an accurate numerical model for simulation of the thermal processes in the converter structure was created by using COMSOL Multiphysics software.The simulation results are in a good agreement with experimental results that validates the model.The simulation shows that the real-time operation is provided for the converter thickness less than 3µm and time response can be improved by decreasing of the converter thickness.The energy conversion efficiency of MM waves into IR radiation is over 80%.The converter temperature increase is a linear function of a MM-wave radiation power within three orders of the dynamic range.The blooming effect and ways of its reducing are also discussed.The model allows us to choose the ways of converter structure optimization and improvement of image detector parameters.