Multicolor VLWIR 3-D Stacked Integrated Focal Plane and Filtering Architectures

Building on Phase I results, Computational Sensor Corporation proposes a Phase-II Program to complete the design, fabrication and demonstration of the Multicolor Processor IC. This effort will include the assembly of electrically interconnected layers to produce a compact and computationally efficient Alternate Architecture implementation featuring three-dimensional stacking of ICs directly below a 2-dimensional detector array. Massively parallel operation is realized by integrating sensing and processing functions at the pixel level thereby relieving the severe data bottleneck found in conventional architectures attempting to satisfy large focal plane formats and emerging weapons system requirements. Present architectures multiplex the tens of thousands to millions of individual pixel signals into very few high-speed video lines prior to complex signal processing occurring after digitization. For example, typical infrared sensor formats now in production have output data rates around 6 MHz (60-Hz frame-rates). The next generation of multicolor arrays requires data rates reaching well into the gigahertz. Compact, low-power systems, especially requiring high dynamic range and high frame-rates, simply cannot handle the vast volume of raw data. The Alternate Architecture constitutes the first new imaging system approach since the invention of hybrid infrared focal-plane arrays in the 1970’s by incorporating innovative bulk pre-processing at the pixel-level.