Commercialization of quantum well infrared photodetector focal plane arrays

Many commercial and government applications need high performance, large fo rmat, long-wavelength infrared (LWIR) detector arrays in the range of 6-20 mum NASA and the ballistic missile defense organization (BMDO) have devoted a significant effort to develop highly sensitive infrared (IR) detectors a nd large format focal plane arrays (FPAs) based on novel 'artificial low ef fective bandgap semiconductor material systems such as GaAs/AlGaAs. Caltech 's Jet propulsion laboratory (JPL) under contract from NASA and BMDO has ex tensively pursued GaAs/AlGaAs based multi-quantum wells (MQWs) for IR radia tion detection. Optimization of the detector design, light coupling schemes , large format FPA fabrication and packaging techniques have culminated in the realization of portable LWIR cameras with a mid format (256 x 256 pixel ) FPA of QWIP detectors and the demonstration of TV format (i.e., 640 x 486 ) QWIP camera. QWIP technologies LLC, under an exclusive agreement with Cal tech is currently manufacturing the QWIP-Chip(TM), a 320 x 256 element FPA. In this, presentation, we will discuss the advantages of MQW technology an d our experience in the commercialization of QWIP FPAs. (C) 2001 Elsevier S cience B.V. All rights reserved.