Uncooled 2100×2048 focal plane array for NASA sustainable land imaging technology sensor

We report on the development of a large format uncooled 2100×2048 Focal Plane Array (FPA) for the NASA Sustainable Land Imaging Technology Sensor Program. The sensor is designed to provide near simultaneous land imaging in 6 spectral bands. Spectral filtering is enabled by a spectral imaging sensor design which involves a butcher-block filter assembly mounted over the large format FPA package. The spectral bands used include 5 bands in the Long-wave Infrared (LWIR, 8-12μm) atmospheric transmission window and one band, which will be employed for fire detection, in the Mid-wave Infrared (MWIR, 3-5μm) atmospheric window. The FPA is the 10μm 2100×2048 UC300 format array under development for the NASA Sustained Land Imaging – Technology (SLI-T) Program. Leonardo DRS currently has 10μm 640×512 U6800 and 10μm 1280×1024 U9000 FPA formats in production and the UC300 represents the largest format introduction to the 10μm pixel uncooled FPA product line. The UC300 operates at 30Hz framerate over the operating temperature range of -40°C to 85°C. The Read-out Integrated Circuit (ROIC) design involves a single row pulsed-bias bridge architecture with signal integration done row-by-row within column amplifiers. The 30Hz framerate is enabled by operating the ROIC as two independent 2100×1024 sub-arrays, with dedicated column amplifiers for each sub-array, resulting in two rows being integrated simultaneously. The UC300 is vacuum packaged in a Leadless Chip Carrier (LCC) package with a broadband (MWIR + LWIR) infrared window.