A 25µm pitch LWIR focal plane array with pixel-level 15-bit ADC providing high well capacity and targeting 2mK NETD

Fabrice Guellec; Arnaud Peizerat; Michael Tchagaspanian; Eric De Borniol; Sylvette Bisotto; Laurent Mollard; Pierre Castelein; Jean-Paul Zanatta; Patrick Maillart; Michel Zecri; Jean-Christophe Peyrard

doi:10.1117/12.849684

3 May 2010 A 25μm pitch LWIR focal plane array with pixel-level 15-bit ADC providing high well capacity and targeting 2mK NETD

Fabrice Guellec, Arnaud Peizerat, Michael Tchagaspanian, Eric De Borniol, Sylvette Bisotto, Laurent Mollard, Pierre Castelein, Jean-Paul Zanatta, Patrick Maillart, Michel Zecri, Jean-Christophe Peyrard

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 7660, Infrared Technology and Applications XXXVI; 76603T (2010) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.849684
Event: SPIE Defense, Security, and Sensing, 2010, Orlando, Florida, United States

Abstract

CEA Leti has recently developed a new readout IC (ROIC) with pixel-level ADC for cooled infrared focal plane arrays (FPAs). It operates at 50Hz frame rate in a snapshot Integrate-While-Read (IWR) mode. It targets applications that provide a large amount of integrated charge thanks to a long integration time. The pixel-level analog-to-digital conversion is based on charge packets counting. This technique offers a large well capacity that paves the way for a breakthrough in NETD performances. The 15 bits ADC resolution preserves the excellent detector SNR at full well (3Ge-). These characteristics are essential for LWIR FPAs as broad intra-scene dynamic range imaging requires high sensitivity. The ROIC, featuring a 320x256 array with 25μm pixel pitch, has been designed in a standard 0.18μm CMOS technology. The main design challenges for this digital pixel array (SNR, power consumption and layout density) are discussed. The IC has been hybridized to a LWIR detector fabricated using our in-house HgCdTe process. The first electro-optical test results of the detector dewar assembly are presented. They validate both the pixel-level ADC concept and its circuit implementation. Finally, the benefit of this LWIR FPA in terms of NETD performance is demonstrated.

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Fabrice Guellec, Arnaud Peizerat, Michael Tchagaspanian, Eric De Borniol, Sylvette Bisotto, Laurent Mollard, Pierre Castelein, Jean-Paul Zanatta, Patrick Maillart, Michel Zecri, and Jean-Christophe Peyrard "A 25μm pitch LWIR focal plane array with pixel-level 15-bit ADC providing high well capacity and targeting 2mK NETD", Proc. SPIE 7660, Infrared Technology and Applications XXXVI, 76603T (3 May 2010); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.849684

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