SBIR-STTR Award

Infrared photodetectors operating in the wavelength range of 3-20 mm and beyond are of great importance to a wide variety of ongoing and future NASA missions, as well as many commercial and military applications in infrared (IR) imaging and sensing. Hence, there is a constant pursuit of advances in detector technologies and enabling technologies related to increasing detector performance. In recent years, the InAs/GaInSb strained layer superlattice (SLS) has emerged as a viable alternative infrared material that holds promise of overcoming fundamental and practical limitations of current high-performance infrared detectors, particularly with respect to enhanced sensitivity at higher temperature and longer wavelength operation. The focus of this project is to address critical development issues that will initiate the advancement of this novel IR material from mere "proof-of-principle" demonstration to "proof of producibility" in a manufacturing environment dedicated to the production of single-element, linear and focal plane array infrared products. Finally, the realization of a high-performance, single-color photovoltaic IR technology based InAs/GaInSb would serve as a pivotal milestone for extending the advantages of this material system to more advanced capabilities such as monolithic multicolor detectors as well as very large-area FPA formats.

Potential Commercial Applications:
Critical military needs include missile defense, remote chemical sensing for defense against biological/chemical warfare, and medical . Commercial markets include leak detection, chemical process control, remote chemical sensing for atmospheric pollution and drug monitoring, IR spectroscopy, and medical diagnoses. With the development of high-performance photodetectors, this program should considerably accelerate the commercialization of mid-IR photodetectors to meet the potential needs of the huge defense and commercial market.