Microbolometer Terahertz Focal Plane Array and Camera with Improved Sensitivity in the Sub-Terahertz Region

Journal of Infrared, Millimeter, and Terahertz Waves - A pixel in an uncooled microbolometer terahertz (THz) focal plane array (FPA) has a suspended structure above read-out integrated circuit...     

The Need of Terahertz Cameras for Standardizing Sensitivity Measurements

The applicability of a blackbody source to sensitivity measurements and calibration of an uncooled Terahertz (THz) focal plane array (FPA) is discussed, but the combination of a blackbody source and a band-pass filter may not be suitable for these purposes. Two ways to measure the minimum detectable power (MDP) of uncooled THz-FPAs are described and compared when used with strong THz sources such as a quantum cascade laser (QCL). The MDP is defined as the radiant power that produces a signal-to-noise ratio of unity in the output of a THz imager that uses a THz-FPA operating at a TV frame rate. One method (method 1) is based on the hypothesis that the beam pattern of the THz source is close to a Gaussian pattern. In another method (method 2), the signal level of the background in an image that does not contain a THz source is subtracted from the signal of the image. While method 2 is more flexible, how large the signals coming from THz source should be, as compared with the noise level, remains to be defined. Finally, based on issues with the current non-uniformity correction (NUC) technique, specifications are proposed for THz source power and wobbling technique to obtain uniform illumination for an ideal NUC technique.     

基于扫描面阵的红外预警系统及其探测性能分析

目前红外搜索跟踪(IRST)系统普遍采用红外焦平面传感器,线阵FPA使系统达到了更高的灵敏度和分辨率.然而由于线阵FPA扫描系统的固有限制,IRST系统不能实现任意方位的潜在目标跟踪,而采用面阵FPA的IRST系统可以较好的解决这些问题,但帧积分时间内探测器的扫描运动使图像存在严重的拖尾,给目标探测带来了影响.介绍了一种基于面阵FPA的全方位红外预警系统设计,并对采用线阵和面阵FPA探测器的系统性能进行了对比分析.提出通过目标能量累积技术弥补目标拖尾对面阵FPA扫描系统探测性能的影响,实验验证了能量累积技术可以使面阵IRST达到接近线阵IRST的探测距离,同时具有更低的虚警率.     

Large Format AlInAs–InGaAs Quantum-Well Infrared Photodetector Focal Plane Array For Midwavelength Infrared Thermal Imaging

We report the first large format (640times512) AlInAs-InGaAs quantum-well infrared photodetector (QWIP) focal plane array (FPA), and investigate the characteristics of AlInAs-InGaAs QWIPs both at pixel and FPA level. The measurements on the detectors fabricated with molecular beam epitaxy grown epilayer structure including 30 InGaAs quantum wells (26 Aring thick, N_D=2times10¹⁸ cm^-3) yielded very promising characteristics. The detectors with lambda_p=4.2 mum and Deltalambda/lambda_p=25% displayed a background-limited performance temperature as high as 105 K with f/2 aperture. The noise equivalent temperature difference of the FPA is as low as 23 mK (f/1.5) at 105-K sensor temperature with 99.6% operability. These results are comparable to the best results reported for AlGaAs-InGaAs midwavelength infrared QWIPs showing the promise of this material system for completely lattice-matched multiband QWIP FPAs.     

Focal Plane Array Based on the InGaAs/InP Heterostructure for 3D Imaging in Short-Wave IR Range

Journal of Communications Technology and Electronics - A Russian-made focal plane array (FPA) for gated imager working in the short-wave IR range is presented. The FPA contains an array of...     

二极管原理非制冷红外焦平面阵列的集成设计

面向非制冷红外成像的低成本高性能应用,二极管原理的红外焦平面阵列的设计和工艺实现得到研究和发展.焦平面和读出电路的设计集成以及CMOS和MEMS工艺集成是此项技术的研究重点.基于SOI的二极管原理焦平面阵列在低成本的利用CMOS工艺实现大规模阵列集成方面有很大的优势.读出电路是基于标准CMOS工艺进行设计的.320×2...     

Diffractive Microlens Array Monolithic Integration with PtSi Focal Plane array

Diffractive microlens arrays can completely collect the light at the focal plane and concentrate it into a smaller spot size on the detector plane, the photodetector area can be substantially reduced. Increased gamma radiation hardening and noise reduction result from the decrease in photodetector sensitive area. The diffractive microlens arrays have been designed by considering the correlative optical and processing parameters for PtSi focal plane array. They have been fabricated on the backside of PtSi focal plane array chip by successive photolithography and Ar⁺ ion-beam-etching technique. The alignment of microlens array with PtSi focal plane array was completed by a backside aligner with IR light source. The practical processes and fabrication method are discussed. The performance parameters of PtSi FPA with diffractive microlens array are presented.     

320 × 240 CMOS array for the spectral range of 3–5 μm based on PtSi photodiodes

The results of research and development of a 320 × 240 platinum silicide focal plane array (FPA) for the spectral range of 3–5 μm are presented. The development is based entirely on CMOS technology. It is shown that the FPA makes it possible to adjust the photosignal accumulation time at a fixed frame rate and subtract the background constant component in the output device.     

Long-Term Stability of a 640 × 512 InSb Focal Plane Array with a Pitch of 15 μm

The long-term stability of a 640x512 InSb focal plane array (FPA) with a pitch of 15 μm combined with a Stirling cooler and an interface block has been investigated.The dependences of the FPA correctability index on the operation time after a two-point correction of the irregularity have been obtained. The FPAs with two different circuits of the readout LSI cells that differ in the integration capacitance and transmission coefficients are considered. It has been found that, for the InSb FPA, the long-term stability is as high as several hours, which ensures continuous operation of the array in thermal imaging systems without additional calibrations.     

一种融合干涉测量的被动毫米波焦平面成像方法

针对被动毫米波焦平面阵列中相邻馈源波束存在的重叠区域,采用相关的方法对相邻馈源的输出进行相关接收,产生了新的像素信息,提出了一种融合干涉测量的焦平面成像方法.该方法将相干和非相干技术进行有效融合,增加了被动毫米波多波束成像像素的数量,提高了成像分辨率.理论分析和仿真实验都表明该方法是有效的.     

Performance of microbolometer focal plane arrays under varyingpressure

In this letter, we present a study of imaging using a 128×128-pixel microbolometer focal plane array (FPA) under varying pressure conditions from 10^-5 torr to the ambient. We have employed bulk micromachining in the fabrication of FPA to reduce the thermal conduction through the air-gap between the membrane and the substrate of the microbolometers. It was found that an image of a soldering iron (200°C) was clearly visible even at the ambient pressure. However, at ambient pressure, the increased in thermal conductance resulted in a reduction of contrast of the image compared to the ones obtained at low pressure. The results suggest the possibility of operation of uncooled FPA's under ambient pressure by proper design of the microbolometer structure     

论红外焦平面器件的串音

红外探测系统通常需要将探测器密集排列以增加它们的空间分辨率。在焦平面阵列中,当投射到某一特定探测器光敏面上的红外光子在另一个探测器中产生信号时,这种现象称为串音。串音可能会影响焦平面阵列的分辨率性能。在高性能光伏阵列中,串音的主要成分是光生载流子在焦平面阵列的相邻探测器之间的横向扩散。从基本概念入手,介绍了相关串音研究的发展情况以及对串音问题的理解和体会。     

红外系统微扫描技术研究

介绍了微扫描技术及其给红外焦平面阵列(FPA)成像带来的好处,分析了微扫描红外焦平面阵列成像方案的特点,比较了各种微扫描成像方案的优势及不足,指出了红外焦平面阵列微扫描成像工程化的可行方案和研究方向。设计了一种采用非制冷氧化钒384pixel×288pixel焦平面探测器的长波红外微扫描光学系统。其工作波长范围为8～14μm,F数为1,焦距为150mm。利用光学设计软件CodeⅤ进行了仿真计算,对其像质进行了评价,并给出了微扫描系统的配置方案。     

大周长面积比延伸波长InGaAs红外焦平面噪声

在理论上分析了红外焦平面组件中光敏元、读出电路以及两者耦合的总噪声特性,对大周长面积比(38×500μm2)延伸波长InGaAs组件的噪声与温度、积分时间的关系进行了实验和分析.实验结果指出,在一定条件下组件噪声与积分时间的根号并不成正比.测量了不同温度下的组件暗信号、噪声,得到组件噪声与暗电流的关系,分析表明,该种组件噪声主要来自于1/f噪声及读出电路输入级电流噪声.     

太赫兹肖特基二极管噪声电压的理论研究

在太赫兹焦平面成像等系统中,GaAs肖特基二极管作为太赫兹检测的核心器件,其噪声特性直接影响太赫兹探测系统的灵敏度。讨论了GaAs肖特基二极管在不同直流偏压下加载给负载的热噪声电压、散粒噪声电压、总噪声电压,并给出了相应的解析解。同时,建模模拟了太赫兹混频前端,并利用谐波平衡法对理论公式进行了对比验证。对太赫兹像元与阵列芯片的噪声机理以及提高芯片的噪声性能研究,改善芯片噪声特性,从而提高太赫兹焦平面成像系统灵敏度具有重要意义和作用。     

Hybrid Integration Between Long Focus Microlens Array and IR Detector Array

A special method, named step simulation method, is proposed for fabricating Si microlens array to improve the performance of infrared focal plane array (IR FPA). The focus length of rectangle-based multistep microlens array with element dimension of 40 µm×30 µm is 885.4 µm by the method, which is much longer than the focus length of microlens array fabricated by conventional Fresnel binary optics technique., The large-scale 256×256 element microlens array is hybridintegrated with the PtSi Schottky-barrier IR FPA by optical adhesive. The test results show that diffractive spot size of the microlens is 17 µm×15 µm and the average optical response of the IR FPA is increased by a factor of 2.4.     

室温微测辐射热计太赫兹探测阵列技术研究进展(特邀)

在室温太赫兹探测技术领域中,热敏微桥结构的太赫兹探测器具有探测波段宽、阵列规模大、集成度高、实时成像等显著特点。文中对室温太赫兹探测技术、基于热敏材料的太赫兹探测技术国内外发展现状进行了综述,分析了基于氧化钒薄膜微桥结构的非制冷长波红外焦平面探测技术,存在着太赫兹波低吸收探测性能弱的不足,针对太赫兹波探测进行优化设计,同时介绍了电子科技大学在太赫兹探测阵列吸收结构方面的部分研究工作。     

320×256 GaAs/AlGaAs长波红外量子阱焦平面探测器

量子阱红外探测器(Quantum well infrared photodetector, QWIP)已经经历了20多年的深入研究,各种QWIP器件,包括量子阱红外探测器焦平面阵列(FPA)的研制也已经相当成熟。但是在国内,受制于整体工业水平, QWIP焦平面阵列器件的研制仍然处于起步阶段。研制了基于GaAs/ AlxGa1-xAs 材料、峰值响应波长为9.9 m的长波320256 n型QWIP焦平面阵列器件,其像元中心距25 m, 光敏元面积为22 m22 m。GaAs衬底减薄后的QWIP焦平面阵列,与Si基CMOS读出电路(ROIC)通过铟柱倒焊互连,并且在65 K工作温度下进行了室温环境目标成像。该焦平面器件的规模和成像质量相比之前国内报道的结果都有较大提高。焦平面平均峰值探测率达1.51010 cmHz1/2/W。     

Investigation of planar photodiodes of a focal plane array based on a heteroepitaxial InGaAs/InP structure

The results of investigation of planar photodiodes (PDs) in a focal plane array (FPA) based on a heteroepitaxial InGaAs/InP structure are reported. The FPA has a size of 320 × 256 elements with a pitch of 30 μm, which are hybridized with various ROIC readout circuits. It is demonstrated that the PD reverse bias should be no lower than 2 V in order to suppress the FPA intercoupling at the room temperature. It is found that the dark current may be reduced considerably by cooling the FPA to–20°С with a two-stage thermoelectric cooler. The best average room-temperature dark current over the FPA planar photodiodes is 0.22 pA at an optimum PD bias of–2.4 V.     

Large-Format Voltage-Tunable Dual-Band Quantum-Well Infrared Photodetector Focal Plane Array for Third-Generation Thermal Imagers

We report a large-format (640 times 512) voltage- tunable quantum-well (QW) infrared photodetector focal plane array (FPA) for dual-band imaging in the mid- and long-wavelength infrared (MWIR and LWIR) bands. Voltage-tunable spectral response has been achieved through a series connection of eight-well MWIR AlGaAs-InGaAs and 16-well LWIR AlGaAs-GaAs QW stacks grown by molecular beam epitaxy on GaAs substrate. The peak responsivity wavelength of the detectors is shifted from 4.8 to 8.4 mum as the bias is increased within the limit applicable by commercial read-out integrated circuits. The FPA with MWIR and LWIR cutoff wavelengths of 5.1 and 8.9 mum provides noise equivalent temperature differences of 20 and 32 mK (f/1.5) in these bands, respectively. The results are very encouraging for the development of low-cost large-format dual-band MWIR/LWIR FPA technology.