Design and Analysis of a LWIR Detector Electronics for Space Applications

Kurzfassung

µBolometers based on a-Si technology provide a marketable performance while at the same time requiring only moderate resources in terms of cooling requirements. The PICO1024 is a high resolution (1024x768 pixels) infrared image sensor for thermography applications. It makes use of LYNRED latest, state of the art, 17 µm pixel pitch technology. The PICO1024 sensor is a 2-dimensional detector array sensitive to infrared radiation in the long wave spectral range (LWIR) from 8 to 14 m. It uses microbolometer technology to convert infrared radiation into electronic signal for use in thermal imaging cameras. Starting from an analysis of the Capacitance Trans-Impedance Amplifier (CTIA) the front-end electronics architecture is described and analyzed. This includes transient and AC Spice simulations as well as an analysis of the readout signal chain noise performance. The paper also presents a possible replacement of key components (ADC, opamp) by low power, high performance space qualified IEEE parts. An instrument concept presents the implementation of the PICO1024 into a thermal infrared multi-spectral imager for an Io mission .