Monolithic, Active Pixel InGaAs Near Infrared Focal Plane Array

Sensors Unlimited,Inc.

Princeton, NJ

Developed an InGaAs/InP active pixel sensor wherein monolithic circuit functionality is integrated at every pixel

• Technology incorporated into hybrid focal plane array (FPA) consisting of an InGaAs photodiode array operable in the 0.9 µm to 1.7 µm spectrum at room temperature.
• Contains a single stage thermoelectric cooler with an integrated thermistor allowing the user to reduce the temperature for "high sensitivity" applications, such as low light level detection, or to stabilize the FPA in a varying ambient temperature.
• Easy to operate because the clock drivers and analog gain are all on one chip.

• Commercial sales of NIR imaging applications have exceeded $1 million for the past three years.
• Imaging systems with 640 x 512 pixels on 25 µm pitch are currently available and 1280 x 1040 on 12.5 µm have been demonstrated. Cameras with cut-off wavelengths beyond 2 µm have also been produced.
• Technology used in many industrial and commercial applications such as night vision, fiber optics inspection, eye-safe covert surveillance, spectroscopy, laser beam profiling, laser and light detection and ranging (Ladar, Lidar), machine vision, and many other applications where near infrared detection is required.

• Technology was utilized in the LEISA Atmospheric Corrector (LAC) instrument, which was flown on NASA’s Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) mission. Rockwell Scientific Corporation built the LAC system and they report that the system is fully operational in measuring the spectral region that is sensitive to atmospheric variations.

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