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Since the late 1990s Semiconductor devices (SCDs) has developed and manufactured a variety of InSb two-dimensional (2D) focal plane arrays (FPAs) that were implemented in many infrared (IR) systems and applications. SCD routinely manufactures both analog and digital InSb FPAs with array formats of 320×256, 480×384, and 640×512 elements, and pitch size in the range 15 to 30 μm. These FPAs are available in many packaging configurations, including fully integrated detector-Dewarcooler-assembly, with either closed-cycle Stirling or open-loop Joule-Thomson coolers. In response to a need for very high resolution midwave IR (MWIR) detectors and systems, SCD has developed a large format 2D InSb detector with 1280×1024 elements and pixel size of 15 μm. The ROIC is fabricated in CMOS 0.18-μm technology, that enables the small pixel circuitry and relatively low power generation at the focal plane. The digital ROIC has an analog to digital (A/D) converter per-channel and allows for full frame readout at a rate of 100 Hz. Such on-chip A/D conversion eliminates the need for several A/D converters with fairly high power consumption at the system level. The digital readout, together with the InSb detector technology, lead to a wide linear dynamic range and low residual nonuniformity, which is stable over a long period of time following a nonuniformity correction procedure. A special Dewar was designed to withstand harsh environmental conditions while minimizing the contribution to the heat load of the detector. The Dewar together with the low power ROIC, enable a megapixel detector with overall low size, weight, and power with respect to comparable large format detectors. A variety of applications with this detector make use of different cold shields with different f-number and spectral filters. In this paper we present actual performance characteristics of the megapixel InSb detector and demonstrate its high manufacturability.

We demonstrate the suppression of the bulk generation- recombination current in nBn devices based on an InAsSb active layer (AL) and a AlSbAs barrier layer (BL). This leads to much lower dark cur- rents than in conventional InAsSb photodiodes operating at the same temperature. When the BL is p-type, very high doping must be used in the AL (nBpn + ). This results in a significant shortening of the device cut- off wavelength due to the Moss-Burstein effect. For an n-type BL, low AL doping can be used (nBnn), yielding a cutoff wavelength of ∼4.1 μm and a dark current close to ∼3 × 10 −7 A/cm 2 at 150 K. Such a device with a4 -μm-thick AL will exhibit a quantum efficiency (QE) of 70% and background-limited performance operation up to 160 K at f/3. We have madenBnnfocalplane arraydetectors(FPAs)with a 320 ×256 formatand a 1.3-μm-thick AL. These FPAs have a 35% QE and a noise equivalent temperature difference of 16 mK at 150 K and f/3. The high performance of our nBnn detectors is closely related to the high quality of the molecular beam epitaxy grown InAsSb AL material. On the basis of the temperature dependence of the diffusion limited dark current, we estimate a minority carrier lifetime of ∼670 ns. C 2011 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers