PbSnSe Focal Plane Arrays on Novel Silicon Based Substrates

EPIR Technologies Inc. will develop infrared focal plane arrays that have the potential of increased sensitivity, longer cutoff wavelengths (>14 µm), larger formats (> 256 x 256), and higher operating temperatures than the current state of the art infrared photon imaging technology. PbSnSe will be employed as the detector material since it is ideal for the MDA’s requirements due to its tolerance to dislocations, ease of growth, and relative ease of device fabrication. Growing PbSnSe on silicon substrates would allow for the eventual monolithic growth of the material on an ROIC and for large area detector material. This would significantly decrease the cost of high performance narrow bandgap detector arrays. Additionally, the proposed silicon substrates do not suffer from the instability of the typically used barium fluoride substrates. Phase I of this project demonstrated the feasibility of PbSnSe growth on Si using II-VI buffer layers and indicated some promising avenues to explore for improved device performance. EPIR Technologies will demonstrate in the proposed Phase II effort devices operating at both 77K and room temperature. Finally, building on the success of the highest performing single detectors, EPIR Technologies with its partners will fabricate and characterize 320 × 240 focal plane arrays.