Dual-Mode, Extended Near-Infrared, Focal Plane Arrays fabricated with a Commercial SiGe BiCMOS Process

This proposal addresses the development of dual-mode, low noise, high sensitivity Extended Near Infrared (exNIR) Focal Plane Arrays (FPAs) to support next generation vision systems for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and robots. This effort will explore a vision system capable of seamlessly changing its operation between two modes, under bright sunlight with a large single-detector instantaneous field-of-view (IFOV) and also at night with very low ambient light, with sensitivity better than current systems by several orders of magnitude. The proposed innovative low light exNIR FPA will be fabricated using an existing Silicon Germanium (SiGe) BiCMOS process from IBM, allowing wavelength sensitivity to 1200 nm. This fabrication approach will offer the possibility of achieving low cost, high dynamic range, and large size Avalanche Phototransistor (APT) based FPAs. Applications for this exNIR sensor include Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR), night vision, precision guided munitions, covert illumination, LADAR, laser rangefinding and Free Space Optical (FSO) communications.