LOW-COST HIGH QUANTUM EFFICIENCY LONG WAVELENGTH ARRAYS FOR SMART MUNITION

RECENT SUCCESSES OF MOLECULAR BEAM EPITAXY (MBE) HAVE DEMONSTRATED GROWTH OF NEW ELECTRONIC MATERIALS AND INFRARED DETECTORS WITH EXCEPTIONAL OR GREATLY IMPROVED PROPERTIES. IN PARTICULAR, MBE CAN PRODUCE A SUPERLATTICE SCHOTTKY BARRIER WITH CONTROLLED BANDGAP AND ULTRA-THIN EPILAYERS TO DETECT LONG WAVELENGTH INFRARED (LWIR) IN THE 8-12 MICRON SPECTRAL RANGE. WE PROPOSE TO DEVELOP AN ARRAY OF THESE SUPERLATTICE SCHOTTKY BARRIER DETECTOR PROCESSED WITH METAL OXIDE FIELD-EFFECT TRANSISTOR (MOSFET) READOUT ELECTRONICS ON SILICON (SI). WE WILL FIRST DEVELOP THE SUPERLATTICE SCHOTTKY BARRIER DETECTORS FOR THE 8-12 MIRO SPECTRAL REGION, AND DEVELOP THE READOUT ELECTRONICS TO INTERFACE THE DETECTORS FORMING A MONOLITHIC ARRAY. WE WILL THEN OPTIMIZE THE ARRAY FOR A QUANTUM EFFICIENCY GREATER THAN 40%, A NON-UNIFORMITY LESS THAN 1% AND A FABRICATION COST AS LOW AS THAT FOR THE CURRENTLY-AVAILABLE PT-SILICIDE SCHOTTKY BARRIER ARRAY COVERING THE 3 - 5 MICRON SPECTRAL BAND. THE RESULTANT LWIR ARRAYS WILL BE LOW COST AND HIGH PERFORMANCE, AND THEREFORE WILL BE MOST ATTRACTIVE FOR ADVANCED SEEKERS USED IN SMART MUNITIONS IN PROGRAMS SUCH AS SADARM.