Quantum Well Infrared Photodetector (QWIP) Focal Plane Arrays for NASA
and DoD Applications
S. D. Gunapala
Center for Space Microelectronics Technology
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109
NASA, commercial, medical, and defense applications such as Earth observation
systems, astronomy, weather monitoring, thermal mapping, thermography,
missile tracking, and night vision aids, etc. require high performance
large format long-wavelength infrared (LWIR) detector arrays in the range
of 3-18µm. Thus, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) has devoted
a significant effort in developing highly sensitive infrared detectors
and large format focal plane arrays based on novel "artificial" low "effective"
band-gap semiconductor material systems such as GaAs/AlGaAs. As a result,
JPL has started to investigate GaAs/AlGaAs based multi-quantum well device
structures for infrared radiation detection. In this presentation, I'll
discuss the optimization of detector designs, light coupling schemes, development
of large format focal plane arrays and packaging which has culminated in
the realization of portable infrared cameras with a large (256x256 pixel)
focal plane array of QWIPs, and the demonstration of TV format (i.e., 640x486)
QWIP camera which can see at 8.5 µm, holding forth great promise
for myriad applications in the 6-18 µm wavelength range.