Totally Monolithic GaAs/HgCdTe Focal Plane Arrays

WE PROPOSE TO DEVELOP A TOTALLY INTEGRATED MONOLITHIC GaAs/HgCdTe FPAs ON GaAs SUBSTRATED. THE INNOVATIVE FEATURES ARE: 1. THE DETECTOR IS FABRICATED DIRECTLY ON THE GaAs MULTIPLEXER SUBSTRATE, WITH THE MONOLITHIC METAL INTERCONNECT INSTEAD OF STANDARD INDIUM BUMPS ALLOWING ARRAY SIZES UP TO 1024x1024 WITH HIGH FRAME RATES. 2. THE FOCAL PLANES WILL INCORPORATE AN ON-CHIP LOW POWER MASSIVELY PARALLEL, HIGH SPEED ADC ENABLING OFF FOCAL PLANE DATA READOUT WITH HIGH IMMUNITY TO OFF CHIP NOISE SOURCES. 3. THE FOCAL PLANE WILL CONTAIN HIGH SPEED DRIVERS FOR REDUCED OUTPUT LINE COUNT COMING OFF FOCAL PLANE, REDUCING COMPLEXITY AND HEAT LOAD. READOUTAND ADC DESIGNS ARE DESCRIBED. DETAILED FABRICATION STEPS TO ACHIEVE MONOLITHIC GaAs/HgCdTe FPAs ARE SHOWN. DURING PHASE I PRELIMINARY TEST CELLS WILL BE DESIGNED AND LAYED OUT, AND EXPERIMENTS WILL BE CONDUCTED TO GROWN HgCdTe ON GaAs SUBSTRATES. DURING PHASE II, A TOTALLY INTEGRATED 4x4 ELEMENT MONOLITHIC GaAs/HgCdTe FPA WILL BE FABRICATED, TESTED AND THE DESIGN OF A 1024x1024 ELEMENT ARRAY WILL BE INITIATED.