CQD Readout Integrated Circuit for Low-cost, HOT, MWIR Imagers

The Navy and other defense agencies require access to electro-optical and infrared (EO/IR) sensors for a variety of surveillance missions in all conditions. Visible light sensors have developed rapidly, but IR sensors are less advanced due to the cost of fabrication and manufacturing. Specifically, the process of bonding the readout integrated circuit (ROIC) to the focal plane array (FPA) is expensive, and while new technologies are poised to make this process more cost-effective, they are not yet widely used or available. In response, SenseICs proposed to design, develop, and demonstrate innovative ROIC structures optimized for use with low-cost infrared detector technologies. Specifically, SenseICs proposes to use a newly demonstrated open-circuit voltage pixel (VocP) topology to develop a ROIC optimized for use with colloidal quantum dot (CQD) based photodetectors. CQDs are inexpensive and can be directly deposited on a ROIC at the wafer-level. With CQD direct deposition, the costly and challenging flip-chip hybridization step, commonplace with mid-wave infrared (MWIR) focal plane arrays (FPA), is no longer needed. Phase I will focus on two efforts. First, we will adapt an existing proof-of-concept VocP ROIC design and generate an architecture for use with potential CQDs. The second will identify an optimal CQD photodetector technology for higher operating temperatures (HOT) combined with the VocP ROIC. A previously validated model of the VocP and photodetector combination will be adapted and used to guide both objectives. To complete Phase I, SenseICs will collaborate with small business QDIR and The Ohio State University.