Progress made in infrared imaging systems in recent years has been remarkable. Despite the high cost and limited size, systems based on materials such as silicon germanium or antimonides have produced adequate quantum efficiencies, dark current, full well capacity and frame rates such that military systems as well as commercial products are now available. Unfortunately high cost and limited size are inherent parameters in these devices. This is due to the high cost and limited surface area available of single crystal epitaxial wafers. These carrier substrates are limited to the diameter of the bulk crystal boule from which they are cut. Raw materials and processing costs for these wafers are extremely expensive and cost reduction cannot be viewed as realistic in these systems. We propose an entirely new approach to imaging in the infrared range whose raw materials cost will be an order of magnitude lower than conventional systems. We expect quantum efficiencies rivaling or exceeding these traditional systems. Inherent in our approach is the ability to produce imaging systems that are not constrained by the size of a single crystal wafer but instead are scaleable to dimensions that can be measured in square feet. Using our approach detection out to 3 microns and beyond is expected.
Keywords: Infrared Imaging; Large Area Devices; Large Area Systems
