EKV Next Generation FPA Hardness and Technology Assessment

Transient radiation-induced noise in Focal Plane Arrays (FPAs) is of growing importance as sensors are designed for increasingly taxing radiation environments. It is not sufficient that a detector survive the radiation dose; the sensor must be able to operate in the presence of radiation-induced noise to adequate levels to fulfill its mission. In the past, shielding and off-chip signal processing were able to mitigate the radiation effects. As mission environments become more challenging this is no longer the case, and in-pixel or on-FPA mitigation techniques become essential. It is costly and time-consuming to perform real-life fabrication and testing. Attention therefore moves naturally to simulation. This effort will begin the development of a general radiation-mitigation design tool for optimization of mitigation methods for a particular mission and radiation environment. This tool will assess mitigation methods built into the detector and the ROIC, as well as Analog and Digital methods. This tool will have applications to a number of interceptor programs to include EKV, THAAD and KEI