A miniature VGA SWIR camera using MT6415CA ROIC

Abstract

This paper reports the development of a new miniature VGA SWIR camera called NanoCAM-6415, which is developed to demonstrate the key features of the MT6415CA ROIC such as high integration level, low-noise, and low-power in a small volume. The NanoCAM-6415 uses an InGaAs Focal Plane Array (FPA) with a format of 640 × 512 and pixel pitch of 15 μm built using MT6415CA ROIC. MT6415CA is a low-noise CTIA ROIC, which has a system-on-chip architecture, allows generation of all the required timing and biases on-chip in the ROIC without requiring any external components or inputs, thus enabling the development of compact and low-noise SWIR cameras, with reduced size, weight, and power (SWaP). NanoCAM-6415 camera supports snapshot operation using Integrate-Then-Read (ITR) and Integrate-While-Read (IWR) modes. The camera has three gain settings enabled by the ROIC through programmable Full-Well-Capacity (FWC) values of 10.000 e-, 20.000 e-, and 350.000 e- in the very high gain (VHG), high-gain (HG), and low-gain (LG) modes, respectively. The camera has an input referred noise level of 10 e- rms in the VHG mode at 1 ms integration time, suitable for low-noise SWIR imaging applications. In order to reduce the size and power of the camera, only 2 outputs out of 8 of the ROIC are connected to the external Analog-to-Digital Converters (ADCs) in the camera electronics, providing a maximum frame rate of 50 fps through a 26-pin SDR type Camera Link connector. NanoCAM-6415 SWIR camera without the optics measures 32 mm × 32 mm × 35 mm, weighs 45gr, and dissipates less than 1.8 W using a 5 V supply. These results show that MT6415CA ROIC can successfully be used to develop cameras for SWIR imaging applications where SWaP is a concern. Mikro-Tasarim has also developed new imaging software to demonstrate the functionality of this miniature VGA camera. Mikro-Tasarim provides tested ROIC wafers and also offers compact and easy-to-use test electronics, demo cameras, and hardware/software development kits for its ROIC customers to shorten their FPA and camera development cycles.