High image quality type-II superlattice detector for 3.3 μm detection of volatile organic compounds

Recent improvements in material quality, structure design and processing have made type-II superlattice a competing high end detector technology. This has also made it an attractive material of choice to meet the industrial need of high end gas detection, as for example detection of methane and other volatile organic compounds (VOC). A heterojunction structure with a cut off at 5 μm but intended for detection of VOC at 3.3 μm will be presented. The detector format is 320 × 256 pixels with 30 μm pitch using the ISC9705 read out circuit. The detector operability is 99.8% and NETD 12 mK (7 ms integration time, object temperature 30 °C and F#2.6, no cold filter used). The uniformity is at least on par with QWIP detectors. Anti-reflective coating is used and the substrate is fully removed. High quality imaging at operating temperature 110 K will be presented.