High resolution, wide field-of-view, infrared (IR) imagers find use in defense and civilian applications. The most demanding of them desire uniform sensitivity across an image’s field of view, while maintaining a small and light-weight optical design. These attributes can be achieved by curving of the focal plane array to reduce the need for field curvature correction. Using experimental and numerical methods, we investigated the spherical curving of hybridized arrays to demonstrate mechanical feasibility and opto-electronic performance. Each hybridized array comprised a 4k x 4k, 10 μm pixel pitch, midwave IR (MWIR) detector hybridized to a 67 mm diagonal fanout chip. We curve an array to 139.2 mm radius of curvature, resulting in a pixel area coverage of 0.086 sr. Measurements across the curved array revealed minimal variation in bandgap (<0.1 μm) and no appreciable difference in dark current.
InAs/GaSb-based type II superlattices (T2SL) offer a manufacturable FPA technology
with FPA size, scalability and cost advantages over HgCdTe. Work at Jet Propulsion
Laboratory (JPL), Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), and Northwestern University
(NWU) has shown that the performance gap between HgCdTe and T2SL FPAs has
narrowed to within 5-10x over the last two years1,2,3. Due to the potential of T2SL
technology for fabrication of large format (> 1k x1k) and dual-band arrays, HRL has
recently resurrected efforts in this area4. We describe the progress on the FastFPA
program funded by the Army Night Vision Labs towards the development of detectors
and focal plane arrays (FPAs). Progress made in the areas of MBE growth, mesa diode
fabrication, dry etch processing, and FPA fabrication over the last one year is presented.
Polymer materials offer unique properties for fabrication of micro-optical systems. The ability to engineer the optical and
mechanical properties of polymers, the low cost of polymers, and the wide choice of fabrication methods make polymers
particularly attractive for low cost, and potential mass production of micro-optical elements and integrated micro-optical
systems. An overview of the current state of the art in polymer micro-optic fabrication technology and applications to
optical MEMS is presented.
An overview of the current state of the art in scanning micromirror technology for switching, imaging, and beam steering applications is presented. The requirements that drive the design and fabrication technology are covered. Electrostatic, electromagnetic, and magnetic actuation techniques are discussed as well as the motivation toward combdrive configurations from parallel plate configurations for large diameter (mm range) scanners. Suitability of surface micromachining, bulk micromachining, and silicon on insulator (SOI) micromachining technology is presented in the context of the length scale and performance for given scanner applications.
We have developed novel optical micro-electro-mechanical systems, (MEMS) and nano-electro-mechanical, (NEMS) optical components for applications including imaging, switching, and optical integrated circuits. This paper provides an overview of current optical MEMS/NEMS research projects in our integrated photonics laboratory at UCLA. Three optical MEMS/NEMS devices: a large, 1 mm diameter, scanning micromirror for imaging applications, an analog micromirror array for network switching applications, and a nanoscale photonic crystal switch for integrated photonic circuit applications will be described.
We have developed a novel wafer-scale single-crystalline silicon micromirror bonding process to fabricate optically flat micromirrors on polysilicon surface-micromachined 2D scanners. The electrostatically actuated 2D scanner has a mirror area of 450 micrometers x 450 micrometers and an optical scan angle of +/- ±7.5 degree(s). Compared to micromirrors made with a standard polysilicon surface-micromachining process, the radius of curvature of the micromirror has been improved by 1 50 times from 1.8 cm to 265 cm, with surface roughness < 10 nm. Besides, single-crystalline honeycomb micromirrors derived from silicon on insulator (SOI) have been developed to reduce the mass of the bonded mirror.
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