InGaAs focal plane array developments at III-V Lab

SWIR detection band benefits from natural (sun, night glow, thermal radiation) or artificial (eye safe lasers) photons sources combined to low atmospheric absorption and specific contrast compared to visible wavelengths. It gives the opportunity to address a large spectrum of applications such as defense and security (night vision, active imaging), space (earth observation), transport (automotive safety) or industry (non destructive process control). InGaAs material appears as a good candidate to satisfy SWIR detection needs. The lattice matching with InP constitutes a double advantage to this material: attractive production capacity and uncooled operation thanks to low dark current level induced by high quality material. For few years, III-VLab has been studying InGaAs imagery, gathering expertise in InGaAs material growth and imaging technology respectively from Alcatel-Lucent and Thales, its two mother companies. This work has lead to put quickly on the market a 320x256 InGaAs module, exhibiting high performances in terms of dark current, uniformity and quantum efficiency. In this paper, we present the last developments achieved in our laboratory, mainly focused on increasing the pixels number to VGA format associated to pixel pitch decrease (15μm) and broadening detection spectrum toward visible wavelengths. Depending on targeted applications, different Read Out Integrated Circuits (ROIC) have been used. Low noise ROIC have been developed by CEA LETI to fit the requirements of low light level imaging whereas logarithmic ROIC designed by NIT allows high dynamic imaging adapted for automotive safety.