Staring 256 x 256 LWIR Focal Plane Array Performance of the Raytheon Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle.

摘要

As part of the Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle (EKV) Exoatmospheric Flight Test (EFT), the Raytheon Infrared Center of Excellence (RIR CoE) has produced many high performance LWIR focal plane arrays (FPAs) for use in interceptor flight tests scheduled 1999. Each of the two LWIR FPAs per EKV consists of a single 256 x 256 S-117 readout multiplexer hybridized to a LWIR or VLWIR detector and mounted to a ceramic / beryllium module assembly. Flexible kapton cables with fine line constantan conductors provide electrical interconnections to the near-FPA Sensor Electronics. To date the RIR COE has delivered a sufficient quantity of Detector Module Assemblies to support the successful Seeker Flight Test conducted on 16 January 1998, and Exoatmospheric Flight Tests scheduled in 1999. The LWIR detectors are 30 um x 30 um in size and arranged in a 256 x 256 array format. The liquid phase epitaxy (LPE) double layer heterojunction (DLHJ) detectors are designed to provide optimized cutoff wavelengths and performance characteristics for each of the two IR spectral bands that are utilized for target detection and discrimination. Both IR FPAs provide near theoretical performance characteristics and are cooled using LN2 to facilitate a rapid, in-flight cool down to the operating temperature of 70K. The cryo-CMOS multiplexer utilizes a high charge capacity, direct injection (DI) unit cell with on-FPA background subtraction for ultra-high radiometric performance. The 256 x 256 unit cells are multiplexed onto two outputs, each operating at a 2.0 MHz data rate. These FPAs have excellent responsivity and response uniformity, near-theoretical noise equivalent irradiance (NEI) and outstanding operability. In addition, these FPAs have been produced in sufficient quantities to support the demanding schedule requirements of multiple, near-term launches throughout 1999.