Uncooled amorphous silicon XGA IRFPA with 17μm pixel-pitch for high end applications

Abstract

The high level of accumulated expertise by ULIS and CEA/LETI on uncooled microbolometers made from amorphous silicon enables ULIS to develop 1024 x 768 (XGA) IRFPAs with 17 μm pixel-pitch to build up the currently available product catalog. This detector has kept all the innovations developed on the full TV format Read Out Integrated Circuit (ROIC) (detector configuration by serial link, two video outputs, low power consumption and wide electrical dynamic range ...). The specific appeal of this unit lies in the high image resolution it provides. The reduction of the pixel-pitch turns this XGA array into a product well adapted for high resolution and compact systems. In the last part of the paper, we will look more closely at high electro-optical performances of this IRFPA; we will highlight the wide thermal dynamic range as well as the high characteristics uniformity and high pixel operability achieved thanks to the mastering of the amorphous silicon technology coupled with the ROIC design.