Abstract
As a general tendency in the microelectronics field, the miniaturization of the products is more and more important and provides cost and system advantages. Following this general tendency, new InfraRed (IR) staring arrays are more and more compact and offer system solutions in the different IR wavebands. In France, the HgCdTe (Mercury Cadmium Telluride / MCT) material and process, as well as the hybridization technology, have been taken to the next even more advanced level of sophistication to offer these new staring arrays. Thus, for Mid Wave (MW) applications, a 15 μm pitch TV format (640×512) HgCdTe detector, called SCORPIO, is offered with a 1/4W micro cooler with miniaturized cryogenics. This optimized dewar has been extended to TV/4 format, using the successful focal plan array which is in mass production since 2000. Concerning Long Wave array, SOFRADIR has been offering for several years 320×256 LW detectors with a cut-off wavelength tuned between 9μm and 12μm depending on the required application. Based on that experience, two new LW HgCdTe products have been developed in 2004 and are offered since beginning of 2005. Relying on the standard HgCdTe production process with the latest improvements and on the optimized dewar family, VENUS-LW detector is now offered. This is a higher resolution 25μm pitch 384×288 LW IDDCA with a 0.5W micro cooler and with a cutoff between 9μm and 10μm for an operational temperature between 77K and 85K and for a spectral band pass fully satisfying the imagery requirements of compact LW FLIRs. This paper overviews the electro-optical and thermal performances of these three detectors and points out some reliability advantages of this new dewar design. Finally, the development trends for even higher resolution IR detector are discussed.
