SEPTEMBER 30--Sensors Unlimited (SUI; Princeton, NJ;www.sensorsinc.com), supplier of short-wavelength infrared (SWIR) cameras based on indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs) technology, has been awarded a contract by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Microsystems Technology Office (MTO) to develop an unprecedented 1280 x 1024-pixel, dual-wavelength, visible and SWIR focal-plane array (FPA). The uncooled, InGaAs FPA will enable very-high-resolution, passive night-vision imaging with sensitivity to wavelengths from 0.4 to 1.7 μm, using pixels on a 15-μm pitch. The contract will be awarded in three, 12-month phases and, if fully executed, will total $4,576,176.
The development of this FPA will result in breakthrough advances in FPA performance. The new FPA will have less than 10 electrons readout noise while operating at video rates. In addition, new developments in detector growth, design, and fabrication will enable dark current densities of less than 2 nA/cm² from the InGaAs photodiode array at room temperature allowing the read noise to be the limiting noise factor for video rate imaging. The FPA combined with SUI expertise in low-noise and dual-wavelength detector design will enable SUI to reach DARPA's goal of identifying a human target at 100 m under no-moon conditions.
President and CEO of Sensors Unlimited, Marshall J. Cohen, notes, "This contract will enhance our current research and further our InGaAs development of high-resolution, low-noise, dual-wavelength FPAs. We welcome the opportunity to work once again with DARPA and its innovative MTO group to advance our InGaAs imaging technology to the next level in FPA performance."
