Multi-Spectral QWIP-LED Devices: A Feasibility Study.
Abstract
The recent advances in infrared sensing technology has made it possible to use infrared sensors to support environmental observations, surveillance, threat detection, tracking, and target identification. For space-based ballistic missile defense (BMD) related applications, the most important detector requirements are: high sensitivity, high uniformity, large format, and multicolor capabilities. Quantum well infrared photodetectors (QWIPs) are a relatively new candidate technology for BMD applications. The current Canadian QWIP technology is based on integration of the QWIP with a light emitting diode (QWIP-LED). As the infrared technology continues to advance, there is a growing demand for multispectral (or multicolor) detectors with better target discrimination and identification. The objects of this study are first to identify the current QWIP multi-spectral implementation techniques and then to adapt them to the new QWIP-LED imaging scheme. The scheme has its unique design constraints associated with the QWIP-LED architecture. Some inherent limitations of the QWIP-LED scheme to achieving simultaneous multispectral registration are also discussed. Several multicolor QWIP-LED implementations are described, including two-leads pixelless QWIP-LED devices with sequential multicolor registration and multi-leads bicolor QWIP-LED focal plane array with near 100% fill factor.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 1999
- Accession Number
- ADA372293
Entities
People
- C. Y. Song
- E. Dupont
- H. C. Liu
- M. Buchanan
- S. Chiu
Organizations
- Defence Research and Development Canada