Curved focal plane detector array for wide field cameras

Abstract

Miniaturization is the main goal for system design in future cameras. This paper offers a novel method to scale down the optical system and to improve the image quality. As with the human retina, the detector array is spherically bent to fit the curved image surface; so the field curvature aberration is directly suppressed, leading to a better resolution and a simplified optical design. By thinning the substrate, the device is monolithically curved without modifying the fabrication process of the active pixels. Optical characterizations have been performed on planar and curved focal plane based cameras to illustrate the optical advantages of detector array curvature.