Thermopile Detector Radiation Hardened Readout

The NASA Jupiter Europa Orbiter (JEO) conceptual payload contains a thermal instrument with six different spectral bands ranging from 8µm to 100ìm. The thermal instrument is based on multiple linear arrays of thermopile detectors that are intrinsically radiation hard; however, the thermopile CMOS readout needs to be hardened to tolerate the radiation sources of the JEO mission. Black Forest Engineering (BFE) is developing a thermopile readout to tolerate the JEO mission radiation sources. On Phase II, BFE will test new circuitry for radiation hardness, complete the design of a 1x128 thermopile readout integrated circuit (ROIC) and fabricate the ROIC using 180 nm CMOS technology. The Phase II ROIC also includes on-chip 16-bit analog-to-digital conversion and serial digital output for system noise immunity. The Phase II ROIC will be characterized to meet the JEO thermal instrument requirement.