Millimeter Wave Focal Plane Array

THERE HAS BEEN A LONG-STANFING NEED FOR ALL-WEATHER, DAY-NIGHT, PASSIVE IMAGING SENSORS TO MEET THE REQUIREMENTS OF NUMEROUS APPLICATIONS. THE MICROWAVE AND MILLIMETER WAVE (MMW) SPECTRAL REGIONS ARE OPERATIONAL CANDIDATES FOR THIS NEED BECAUSE THE ATMOSPHERE HAS WINDOWS THAT ARE RELATIVELY TRANSPARENT IN ALL WEATHER CONDITIONS. NEW W-BAND TECHNOLOGY, IN COMBINATION WITH NEW COMPUTER CAPABILITIES AND IMAGE PROCESSING ALGORITHMS, NOW OFFER POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS TO THESE REQUIREMENTS IN A QUASI-OPTICAL SENSOR DESIGN CONTAINING FOCAL PLANE ARRAYS (FPAS) OF MANY MMW RECEIVING CHANNELS, POTENTIALLY INCLUDING SUPERCONDUCTING FPAS. IN THIS PHASE I PROJECT, LOW-COST TECHNIQUES WILL BE INVESTIGATED FOR PRODUCING LARGE FOCAL PLANE ARRAYS OF W-BAND MILLIMETER WAVE RECEIVERS. THE OBJECTIVE IS TO DEMONSTRATE FEASIBILITY OF USING MICROLITHOGRAPHIC TECHNOLOGY FOR PRODUCING SUCH ARRAYS. A LARGE SCALE ANTENNA ARRAY DEMONSTRATION WILL BE DEFINED FOR THE ANTICIPATED PHASE II EFFORT THAT WILL CONSTRUCT, TEST, EVALUATE AND DEMONSTRATE AN ADVANCED DEVELOPMENT MODEL. 696 THE RECENTLY INVENTED TYPE II STRAINED LAYER SUPERLATTICES MADE OF GaInSb/InAs HAVE SHOWN GREAT PROMISE AS IR DETECTORS. MADE OF PERIODS OF MATERIALS EACH ONLY A FEW ATOMS THICK. IT HAS SEVERAL DESIRABLE OPTICAL AND TRANSPORT PROPERTIES WHICH WOUDL BECOME EVEN MORE IMPORTANT FOR VLWIR (>12um) APPLICATIONS. TO EXPLORE THE POTENTIAL OF THIS MATERIAL SYSTEM, WE PROPOSE TO INVESTIGATE ITS USE FOR DETECTOR DEVICE APPLICATIONS AND DEMONSTRATE THE PREDICTED PROPERTIES. SAMPLES WILL BE FABRICATED IN A STATE-OF-THE-ART MBE SYSTEM USING AUTOMATED PROCESS CONTROL. WE PLAN TO STUDY THEIR DOPANT BEHAVIOR AND DETECTOR CHARACTERISTICS IN A DIODE STRUCTURE.