MAGNOLIA OPTICAL TECHNOLOGIES, INC. — Department of Defense SBIR Phase I: Low cost SWIR Micro-Sensors are needed for a variety of Defense and Commercial Application

Description

Low cost SWIR Micro-Sensors are needed for a variety of Defense and Commercial Applications. Magnolia proposes to investigate packaging and optics integration for short wave infrared focal plane arrays. This will include assessment of materials and manufacturing approaches amendable to the manufacture of wafer level camera. We will determine optimum array format and pixel size for imaging at a target identification range of 100 to 1,000 meters with minimum of horizontal field of view of forty (40) degrees. We will evaluate the potential to produce a large format SWIR imager with size less than 20 cm3. Perform thermal, mechanical, optical analysis of encapsulation and optical materials to assess compatibility with SWIR FPA manufacturing. We Propose to explore the performance of the SWIR Micro-sensor using SiGe based SWIR focal plane arrays, as a low cost alternative for developing Visible-SWIR micro- sensors that will not require any cooling. The attractive features of SiGe based IRFPA"s will take advantage of Silicon based processing technology, that can promise small feature size and compatibility with the Silicon CMOS circuit for signal processing. Magnolia has an excellent team that includes MIT and DRS Defense Systems of Cypress, California.