State of the art HOT performances for Sofradir II-VI extrinsic technologies

Abstract

SOFRADIR is the worldwide leader on the cooled IR detector market for high-performance space, military and security applications thanks to a well mastered Mercury Cadmium Telluride (MCT) technology, and recently thanks to the acquisition of III-V technology: InSb, InGaAs, and QWIP quantum detectors. Strong and continuous development efforts are deployed to deliver cutting edge products with improved performances in terms of spatial and thermal resolution, low excess noise and high operability. The actual trend in quantum IR detector development is the design of very small pixel, with high operating temperature. To maintain the detector performances and operability at high temperature, the number of pixels exhibiting extra noise like 1/f and RTS noise must be limited. This paper presents the recent developments achieved in Sofradir in terms of HOT MCT extrinsic p on n technology, blue MW band (cut-off wavelength of 4.2μm at 150K) and extended MW band (cut-off wavelength of 5.3μm at 130K). Comparison between optimized and non-optimized technology will be presented in terms of NETD temperature dependency, MTF, 1/f noise and the corresponding impact on RFPN (Residual Fixe Pattern Noise) and its stability up to 170K will be shown.