Long-wavelength infrared technology for astronomy at the Hughes Technology Center

Abstract

The Hughes Technology Center (HTC) has developed a family of high-performance Si:As impurity-band conduction (IBC) hybrid focal plane arrays (FPAs) optimized for low background applications: 58×62 pixels (76-μm pitch), 128×128 pixels (75- and 120-μm pitch), and 256×256 pixels (30-μm pitch). These FPAs exhibit state-of-the-art low noise (<100e -) achieved by using readout arrays fabricated on HTC's CryoCMOS process line. The IBC detector arrays, also fabricated at HTC, exhibit high quantum efficiency over a wide waveband with operating temperature of 4–12 K. In addition, Hughes is developing a 256×256 Si:As IBC FPA for high background applications as well as a 512×512 FPA. Readout development includes design and fabrication of 256×256 readouts with large well size of 1×107 e - for the high-background FPA and 512×512 readouts with moderate well size (1×106 e -).