Mass Fabricated Technology Integration for use in Miniature Interceptor Applications

"Fully autonomous miniature interceptors, <10% the size of MMKV-type architectures, are feasible if component and subsystem integration is done by design during the fabrication process. Tanner Research, using highly evolved MEMS-based manufacturingtechniques commonly used in their Class 1000 clean room, propose to radically reduce the need for costly integration of many component parts of a miniature interceptor front-end. For example, by integrating in a single manufacturing process an IRbolometer, tunable optical filtering and flash cooling. These are all critical optical subsystems that can be batch fabricated simultaneously to create low-cost multi-mode optical sensors. Similarly, the `integrated' optical front-end (bolometer, coolingand filters) can be further integrated with readout and signal processing microelectronics on or near the FPA. Conceptually, all MEMS-based components are fabricated simultaneously. This MEMS-based integration provides a mature, low-cost approach toachieve hyperspectral seeker functionality with reduced footprint, mass and power: critical features for low-risk miniature interceptors.Tanner Research proposes to reduce the overall system cost of implementing miniature interceptor technology by using MEMS fabrication techniques adapted from the microelectronics industry. Interceptor optical front-end fabrication, in MEMS, will be done inits entirety at Tanner Research, and will be facilitated by multiple