Two-dimensional focal plane detector arrays for LWIR/VLWIR space and airborne sounding missions

An increasing need for high-precision atmospheric data especially in the long wavelength infrared (LWIR) and very long wavelength infrared (VLWIR) spectral ranges has arisen in the past years not only for the analysis of climate change and its effect on the earth's ecosystem, but also for weather forecast and atmospheric monitoring purposes. Spatially and spectrally resolved atmospheric emission data are advantageously gathered through limb or nadir sounding using an imaging Fourier transform (FT) interferometer with a two-dimensional (2D) high-speed focal plane detector array (FPA). In this paper, AIM reports on its latest results on MCT VLWIR FPAs for Fourier transform infrared sounding applications in the 8-15μm spectral range. The performance of a (112x112) pixel photodiode array with a 40μm pixel pitch incorporating extrinsic p-doping for low dark current, a technique for linearity improvement at high photon fluxes, pixel guards, pixel select/de-select, and a (2x2) super-pixel architecture is discussed. The customized read-out integrated circuit (ROIC) supporting integrate while-read (IWR) operation has a buffered direct injection (BDI) input stage and a full well capacity (FWC) of 143 Megaelectrons per super-pixel. It consists of two independently operating halves with two analog video outputs each. The full frame rate is typically 4k frames/sec, making it suitable for use with rapid scan FT infrared spectrometers. At a 55K operating temperature and an ~14.4μm cut-off wavelength, a photo response of 12.1mV/K and a noise equivalent temperature difference of 24.8mK at half well filling are demonstrated for a 286K reference scene. The nonlinearity error is <0.5%.