News

19 January 2010

 

ODIS wins AFRL contract for monolithic IR imaging and readout ICs

ODIS Inc (Opel Defense Integrated Systems) of Shelton, CT, USA, which designs communications transceivers, optoelectric integrated platforms and infrared sensor type products for military and industrial applications, recently received a $750,000 award to develop ‘Monolithic Infra-Red Pixel Structures Enabled by Thyristor-HFET EO Logic’.

Infrared technologies currently require cryogenic cooling to operate and use independent readout integrated circuits. In contrast, ODIS’ technology has been developed to provide an integrated approach to infrared imaging combined with transistor readout circuits.

Chief scientist Dr Geoff Taylor says that, by incorporating these technologies on the same epitaxial structure, the electro-optic operation should enable high-sensitivity infrared imaging in an uncooled environment with significantly improved operating speeds and off-chip communications.

The technology not only has the potential to produce cost savings for the US Air Force and Space Missile Command, says president Leon (Lee) Pierhal. “We expect enhanced reliability and higher resolution for current and future satellite missions. In addition, the technology should be able to reduce the cost and improve performance for several commercial markets which become viable with this new capability.”

At the heart of the technology is ODIS’ new, patented planar optoelectric technology (POET) semiconductor fabrication process, which is based on a novel III-V materials structure. POET supports monolithic fabrication of ICs containing active and passive optical elements, together with high-performance analog and digital elements, allowing economical integration of many optical devices together with dense, high-speed analog and high-speed, low-power digital elements in monolithic ICs, says ODIS.

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