Proceedings Article | 12 January 2004
KEYWORDS: Sensors, Mercury cadmium telluride, Quantum efficiency, Detector arrays, Astronomy, Silicon, James Webb Space Telescope, Mid-IR, Infrared radiation, Infrared detectors
Large infrared detector arrays are now available that meet the demanding requirements of the astronomy and civil space communities. This paper describes arrays with more than one million detector elements developed by Raytheon Vision Systems for these low-background applications. These detector arrays have 1024 x 1024 and 2048 x 2048 formats with element spacing ranging from 20 to 27 μm. Arrays of this size have been demonstrated with a variety of deteector materials: Si PIN, HgCdTe, InSb, and Si:As IBC. The performance of each of these materials on arrays with more than one million detector elements is discussed. All of these detector materials have demonstrated low noise and dark current, high quantum efficiency, and excellent uniformity. All can meet the high performance requirements for low-background within the limits of their respective spectral and operating temperature ranges. Features of the readout integrated circuits that mate to these detector arrays are also discussed.
Companion papers in these SPIE proceedings that discuss several of these arrays in more detail are:
1. "Large-format 0.85 and 2.5 μm HgCdTe detctor arrays for low-background applications", P.J. Love, A. W. Hoffman, D. L. Gulbransen, K. J. Ando, M. P. Murray, N. J. Therrien
2. "James Webb Space Telescope characaterization of flight candidate NIR InSb array", C. W. McMurtry, W. J. Forrest, J. L. Pipher, A. C. Moore
3. "Orion II: the second-generation readout multiplexer for largest infrared hybrid focal plane", K. M. Merrill, A. M. Fowler, W. Ball, A. Henden, F. J. Vrba, C. McCreight
4. "Interpixel capacitance in nondestructive focal plane arrays" A. C. Moore
5. "Radiation environment performance of JWST prototype FPAs", M. E. McKelvey, K. A. Enico, R. E. McMurray Jr., R. A. Reed, C. R. McCreight
6. "Independent testing of JWST detector prototypes," D. F. Figer, B. Rauscher, M. W. Regan, J. Balleza, L. Bergeron, E. Morse, H. S. Stockman.