MMW and LWIR Sensor Fusion in the Same Pixel for Room Temperature Imaging

Electro-Optek will develop a sensor-fusion infrared (IR) + millimeterwave (MMW) imaging focal plane array combining electron tunneling and silicon micromachining. A gas encapsulated in a cavity micromachined on Si expands upon absorption of IR radiation, like a Golay detector, causing a deflection of the cavity wall measured by an electron tunneling probe, micromachined on the same SI wafer. MMW antennas, metal-deposited on the back of the cavity wall, connect to readout/mux electronics processed on the back of the micromachined SI wafer. The electron tunneling probe can measure atomic-sclae deflections, acting as an extremely sensitive transducer sensing IR well beyond 20 microns. The MMW-horn-shaped cavities have walls coated with a thin layer of Au, of receiving MMWs at 94 GHz and beyond. The same pixel detects IR and MMWs simultaneously, and the FPA provides all-weather, all-battle-condition target detection/recognition from clutter with near immunity to countermeasures.