SBIR-STTR Award

In this STTR project we will address the radiation hardness issues using radiation hard (RH) materials. We will based on the RH material to develop our photon counting APD device structure and grow and fabricate high-quality devices that can achieve high sensitivity, high uniformity, low dark counts, and fast and small after-pulse dark current. We will further utilize our high quality guard-ring and backside lens techniques to develop reliable, high uniformity, 2-D, APD arrays with near 90% fill-in factor for the detection area coverage.

Potential NASA Commercial Applications:
(LIMIT 100 WORDS) High performance avalanche photodiodes (APDs) and arrays in the 1064 and 1300-1550 nm wavelength ranges are very important components for lidar remote sensing applications and satellite-to-satellite or satellite-to-ground optical communications. 1064 nm Nd:YAG lasers are the most important and dominated laser sources for remote sensing. For the longer wavelength APD applications, eye-safe factors are 70 (1300nm) to 100 (1550 nm) times better than their counter parts working at the 850 nm wavelength regions.

Potential NON-NASA Commercial Applications:
(LIMIT 100 WORDS) For the military and commercial applications, APD can be used for range finder systems (military and commercial), free-space optical communication systems, high-speed fiber optic receivers, ?etc. An APD receiver can have higher receiving sensitivity, which can increase the margin of system power budget and allow a better performance with lower cost. For example, it allows a longer distance in a range finder or a higher number of signal (fiber) splitting, in a fiber distribution system.

AdTech Photonics, in collaboration with the Center for Advanced Studies in Photonics Research (CASPR) at UMBC, is pleased to submit this Phase II proposal entitled “High-Performance, Radiation-Hard, 2-D, Near-Infrared, Avalanche Photodiode Arrays” in response to NASA STTR 2004 program solicitation topics: T4.01 Earth Science Sensors and Instruments and T4.02 Space Science Sensors and Instruments. Our goal is to develop high performance avalanche photodiodes (APDs) and arrays with high sensitivity in the 1.06 ?m and the near-infrared 1-1.6 ?m wavelength ranges, which will be used in various NASA applications including interplanetary free space communications, remote sensing, 3-D lidar atmospheric, terrain, and vegetation studies from airborne, UAV, balloon, and space-borne platforms. All these applications will benefit from the improved sensitivity, photon counting rate, and radiation hardness, which will result from this research project.

Potential NASA Commercial Applications:
( Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words) High performance avalanche photodiodes (APDs) in the 1000-1600 nm wavelength range are very important components for lidar remote sensing applications and satellite-to-satellite or satellite-to-ground optical communications. 1064 nm Nd:YAG lasers are the most important and dominated laser sources for remote sensing. For the longer wavelength APD applications, eye-safe factors are 70 (1300 nm) to 100 (1550 nm) times better than their counter parts working at the 850 nm wavelength region. They can be used in various NASA applications including interplanetary free space communications, remote sensing, 3-D lidar atmospheric, terrain, and vegetation studies from airborne, UAV, balloon, and space-borne platforms. All these applications will benefit from the improved sensitivity, photon counting rate, and radiation hardness, which will result from this research project.



Potential NON-NASA Commercial Applications:
:
( Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words) For the military and commercial applications, APD can be used for range finder systems (military and commercial), free-space optical communication systems, high-speed fiber optic receivers, …etc. An APD receiver can have higher receiving sensitivity, which can increase the margin of system power budget and allow a better performance with lower cost. For example, it allows longer distance in a range finder or higher number of signal (fiber) splitting, in a fiber distribution system.