The QWIP Focal Plane Assembly for NASA's Landsat Data Continuity Mission

The Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) is a QWIP based instrument intended to supplement the Operational Land Imager (OLI) for the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM). The TIRS instrument is a dual channel far infrared imager with the two bands centered at 10.8[mu]m and 12.0[mu]m. The focal plane assembly (FPA) consists of three 640x512 GaAs Quantum Well Infrared Photodetector (QWIP) arrays precisely mounted to a silicon carrier substrate that is mounted on an invar baseplate. The two spectral bands are defined by bandpass filters mounted in close proximity to the detector surfaces. The focal plane operating temperature is 43K. The QWIP arrays are hybridized to Indigo ISC9803 readout integrated circuits (ROICs). Two varieties of QWIP detector arrays are being developed for this project, a corrugated surface structure QWIP and a grating surface structure QWIP. This paper will describe the TIRS system noise equivalent temperature difference sensitivity as it affects the QWIP focal plane performance requirements: spectral response, dark current, conversion efficiency, read noise, temperature stability, pixel uniformity, optical crosstalk and pixel yield. Additional mechanical constraints as well as qualification through Technology Readiness Level 6 (TRL 6) will also be discussed

Growth and characterisation of LWIR T2SL on (100)-, (211)- and (311)-oriented GaSb substrates

Ga-free InAs/InAsSb type-II superlattice structures grown on GaSb substrates have demonstrated high performance for mid-wave infrared applications. However, realisation of long wavelength infrared photodetectors based on this material system still presents challenges, especially in terms of reduced quantum efficiency. This reduction is due, in part, to the increased type-II superlattice period required to attain longer wavelengths, as thicker periods decrease the wave-function overlap for the spatially separated quantum wells. One way to improve long wavelength infrared performance is to modify the type-II superlattice designs with a shorter superlattice period for a given wavelength, thereby increasing the wave-function overlap and the resulting optical absorption. Long wavelength infrared epitaxial structures with reduced periods have been realised by shifting the lattice constant of the type-II superlattice from GaSb to AlSb. Alternatively, epitaxial growth on substrates with orientations different than the traditional (100) surface presents another way for superlattice period reduction. In this work, the authors evaluate the performance of long wavelength infrared type-II superlattice detectors grown by molecular beam epitaxy using two different approaches to reduce the superlattice period: first, a metamorphic buffer to target the AlSb lattice parameter, and second, structures lattices matched to GaSb using substrates with different orientations. The use of the metamorphic buffer enabled a ~30% reduction in the superlattice period compared to reference baseline structures, maintaining a high quantum efficiency, but with the elevated dark current related to defects generated in the metamorphic buffer. Red-shift in a cut-off wavelength obtained from growths on highindex substrates offers a potential path to improve the infrared photodetector characteristics. Focal plane arrays were fabricated on (100), (311)A- and (211)B-oriented structures to compare the performance of each approach