Design Modified Commercial CMOS for MDA IR FPAs

Foreign missile threat will increase as ballistic missile technology becomes available on an international scale. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) requires high performance, high sensitivity and low noise infrared sensors for space based sensing applications that operate in environments where radiation hardness is essential to mission operation. Radiation hard by design (RHBD) readout integrated circuits (ROICs) decrease the overall cost of focal plane arrays (FPAs) by exploiting existing commercial foundries rather than relying on increasingly scarce and costly “proven” foundries that offer radiation hard by process (RHBP). Black Forest Engineering will utilize commercially available 180 nm CMOS to provide ROIC radiation hardness >300kRads (Si) and mitigate single-event upsets and latch-up. The RHBD concept utilizes thin gate oxide in critical circuitry, enclosed gate NFETS, FET guard rings, low resistance well/substrate ties, and optimized/adaptive well bias voltage to meet a wide range of detector operating temperatures and also optimize the circuit performance over a large total dose exposure range. The Phase II development will demonstrate ROICs and FPAs optimized for low background LWIR HgCdTe detectors.