HARDENED INFRARED DETECTORS USING GALLIUM-ARSENIDE/ALUMINUM GALLIUM ARSENIDE SUPERLATTICE TECHNOLOGY

THE FEASIBILITY OF USING GAAS/ALGAAS SUPERLATTICE STRUCTURES IS BEING INVESTIGATED TO FABRICATE HIGH PERFORMANCE INFRARED DETECTORS THAT ARE HARD TO BOTH GAMMA FLUX AND TOTAL IONIZING DOSE ENVIRONMENTS. ANALYSIS IS BEING PERFORMED ON THE HARDNESS OF SEVERAL DESIGN CONCEPTS FOR INFRARED DETECTORS BASED ON THESE STRUCTURES AND EXPERIMENTAL VALIDATION IS BEING CONDUCTED OF THE HARDNESS MODEL FOR THE BASELINE STRUCTURE. THE ANALYSIS IS UTILIZING EXISTING MODELS FOR INFRARED DETECTORS PERFORMANCE IN A RADIATION ENVIRONMENT FOR WHICH MOST OF THE INPUT PARAMETERS ARE KNOWN. THE MODEL IS BEING APPLIED BOTH TO THE BASELINE STRUCTURE AND TO ADVANCE HARDENED DESIGNS. IT IS ALSO BEING VERIFIED BY MEASURING THE RESPONSE OF A BASELINE DEVICE TO BOTH A GAMMA-FLUX ENVIRONMENT AND TOTAL DOSE ENVIRONMENT USING AN E-BEAM. THEHARDNESS TO A GAMMA-FLUX ENVIRONMENT CAN BE IMPROVED BY OPERATING THE DEVICE IN A INTRINSIC EVENT DISCRIMINATION MODE. IN THIS STUDY, THE CONDITIONS ARE BEING EXAMINED UNDER WHICH ADVANCED HARDENED SUPERLATTICE/QUANTUM WELL DETECTORS CAN OPERATE IN THIS MODE USING THE MOST SOPHISTICATED MODELS TOO DESCRIBE OPERATION. BECAUSE THIS A III-V MATERIAL TECHNOLOGY (FOR WHICH THERE IS A LARGE EXISTING COMMERCIAL BASE), IT HOLDS PROMISE OF BEING MORE READILY PRODUCIBLE THAN A II-VI MATERIAL TECHNOLOGY SUCH AS HGCDTE. THUS, THIS TECHNOLOGY COULD BE A CANDIDATE TO REPLACE THE TROUBLESOME HGCDTE TECHNOLOGY FOR THE PRODUCTION OF INFRARED DETECTORS.