DUAL-BAND INFRARED STARING FOCAL PLANE ARRAY

WE PROPOSE TO DEVELOP A DUAL-BAND INFRARED STARING FOCAL PLANE ARRAY, EACH PIXEL OF WHICH CONSISTS OF TWO SEPARATE DETECTORS, FABRICATEDINTIMATELY ONE ATOP THE OTHER BY MOLECULAR BEAM EPITAXY (MBE). ONE DETECTOR WILL RESPOND TO THE MEDIUM WAVELENGTH INFRARED (MWIR, 3-5 MICRON) BAND AND ANOTHER TO THE LONG WAVELENGTH INFRARED (LWIR, 8-12 MICRON) BAND. THE DUAL-BAND DETECTOR PIXEL IS A MULTILAYERED STACK CONTAINING AN INSB PHOTOVOLTAIC JUNCTION ON TOP OF AN INSB/INAS1-XSBX HETEROJUNCTION, AND WILL RESPONSE TO TWO SPECTRAL BANDS SEPARATELY BUT SIMULTANEOUSLY. BY USING THE ESTABLISHED MBE TECHNIQUES, A NEAR-PERFECT LATTICE MATCH BETWEEN THE MULTILAYERS WILL FIRST BE DEVELOPED, FOLLOWED BY IN-SITU DOPING OF THE MULTILAYERS TO COMPLETE THE PHOTOJUNCTIONS OF THE STACK. FABRICATION OF SPECIAL EFFUSION SOURCES, DEVELOPMENT OF EPITAXIAL PROCESSES AND DEMONSTRATION OF EPITAXY WILL BE MADE IN PHASE I. THE DUAL-BAND DETECTOR STRUCTURE ALONG WITH READOUT ELECTRONICS WILL BE OPTIMIZED IN PHASE II. A PROTOTYPE STARING ARRAY OF THE DUAL-BAND DETECTORS WILL BE DEMONSTRATED IN PHASE III, USING NON-SBIR FUNDS. ONCE DEVELOPED, THE DUAL-BAND STARING ARRAY WILL PROVIDE A POWERFUL TECHNIQUE FOR DISCRIMINATING DIM TARGETS AGAINST BACKGROUND, CLUTTER, OTHER TARGETS AND COUNTERMEASURES.