The Microelectronics Research Group (MRG) at The University of Western Australia is a key partner of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Transformative Meta-Optical Systems. In this presentation, an overview of ongoing research will be given with an emphasis on the flagship research activities of MCT-based imaging arrays and Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS). The MCT research and development utilise a vertically integrated capability from semiconductor material growth, through device modelling and design, to focal-plane-array fabrication and packaging. In support of the detector array capability, fully integrated MEMS technology can be used to further enhance the sensor device performance through the focal plane integration of tunable filters for spectral classification and infrared spectroscopy. The combination of high-performance detector designs and tunable spectral filters provides a major differentiator for military imaging systems, particularly for those operating in complex and degraded environments. This talk will highlight several research activities that are highly relevant to defence applications including metamaterial enhanced infrared detectors, and the fabrication of infra-red focal plane arrays on flexible substrates. For the MEMS technology, both wideband and narrowband tunable spectral filters will be discussed for multispectral imaging in the SWIR, MWIR and LWIR bands, and for hyperspectral imaging and spectroscopy. Considerations on future research activities and technology trends will be presented including opportunities for the rapid development of high-performance and spectrally adaptive low SWaP sensing systems for enhanced detection and discrimination of partially concealed or camouflaged targets in cluttered backgrounds.
The Microelectronics Research Group (MRG) at UWA has been developing its capabilities in the field of infrared materials and devices since 1989 and is the only HgCdTe research centre in Australia. In this paper, we report on the various HgCdTe based technologies being researched at UWA to enhance their capabilities for demanding applications such as heteroepitaxy-enabled low-cost, large array size, and high-performance HgCdTe IR FPAs, and ultra-high Quantum Efficiency (QE) HgCdTe detectors for squeezed-light applications.
Type-II superlattice (T2SL) based semiconductors have emerged as a rival to well-established HgCdTe-based IR detectors, promising comparable performance at significantly lower cost. T2SLs are complex nanostructures that exhibit multiple-carrier and highly-anisotropic electronic transport properties, which renders them exceedingly challenging to study experimentally. The lack of reliable experimental data has limited optimisation and modelling efforts, and thus hampered progress. This paper will present a systematic experimental study of electronic transport in InAs/InGaSb T2SLs, by employing world-leading mobility spectrum techniques developed at UWA and state-of-the art T2SL structures from three leading research groups developing infrared detector technologies based on T2SLs.
High performance infrared (IR) sensing and imaging systems require IR optoelectronic detectors that have a high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and a fast response time, and that can be readily hybridised to CMOS read-out integrated circuits (ROICs). From a device point of view, this translates to p-n junction photovoltaic detectors based on narrow bandgap semiconductors with a high quantum efficiency (signal) and low dark current (noise). These requirements limit the choice of possible semiconductors to those having an appropriate bandgap that matches the wavelength band of interest combined with a high optical absorption coefficient and a long minority carrier diffusion length, which corresponds to a large mobility-lifetime product for photogenerated minority carriers. Technological constraints and modern clean-room fabrication processes necessitate that IR detector technologies are generally based on thin-film narrow bandgap semiconductors that have been epitaxially grown on lattice-matched wider bandgap IR-transparent substrates. The basic semiconductor material properties have led to InGaAs (in the SWIR up to 1.7 microns), InSb (in the MWIR up to 5 microns), and HgCdTe (in the eSWIR, MWIR and LWIR wavelength bands) being the dominant IR detector technologies for high performance applications. In this paper, the current technological limitations of HgCdTe-based technologies will be discussed with a view towards developing future pathways for the development of next-generation IR imaging arrays having the features of larger imaging array format and smaller pixel pitch, higher pixel yield and operability, higher quantum efficiency (QE), higher operating temperature (HOT), and dramatically lower per-unit cost.
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