Lattice matched InGaAs on small 8 micron pitch at 1.3 Megapixels (Conference Presentation)

Lattice matched InGaAs arrays grown on 100 mm InP substrates have been manufactured commercially into 1280x1024 arrays on 12 and 10 µm pixel pitches for several years. This effort demonstrates the ability to hybridize the same format arrays on smaller 8 µm pitch. The smaller pitch array has high operability and substrate removal enables response from 400 to 1700 nm. The array has 100% fill factor and is capable of room temperature operation. The read out architecture utilized a source follower per detector structure with two full wells of 120 ke- and 2 Me- with an onboard 12 bit digital ADC. The digital imager is capable of fast frame rates exceeding 150 frames/s at full resolution at sub 65e- of readnoise. This fast frame rate combined with the two full well capacities which have a large variation allow electronics in a future iteration for a high dynamic range camera system. The low magnitude and high uniformity of the dark current enables the use of a simple single point Non-Uniformity Correction (NUC) to produce a clear image. This imager is suitable for use in uncooled applications because of the low dark current and simple read out architecture. The smaller pixel pitch enables smaller optical trains and form factors at a significantly reduced cost. The cost savings are further enhanced as the technology transitions to wafer scale hybridization.