Commercialization of quantum well infrared photodetector QWIP™ focal plane arrays

Many commercial and government applications need high performance, large format, long-wavelength infrared (LWIR) detector arrays in the range of 6-20 mu m. NASA and the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO) have devoted a significant effort to develop highly sensitive infrared (IR) detectors and large format focal plane arrays (FPAs) based on novel, "artificial", low effective band-gap semiconductor material systems such as GaAs/AlGaAs. Caltech's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) under contract from NASA and BMDO has extensively pursued GaAs/AlGaAs based multi-quantum wells (MQWs) for IR radiation detection. Optimization of the detector design, light coupling schemes, large format focal plane array fabrication and packaging have culminated in the realization of portable infrared cameras with a mid-format (256 x 256 pixel) FPA of QWIP detectors and the demonstration of a TV format (i.e., 640 x 486) QWIP camera. QWIP Technologies under an agreement with Caltech is manufacturing the QWIP-Chip(TM), a 320 x 256 element FPA, which will be available in the summer of 1999. In this paper we discuss the advantages of MQW technology and our experience in the commercialization of QWIP(TM) FPAs.