Asteroid Innovation Potential

The very large Infrared detector that will be manufactured thanks to the proposed developments in ASTEROID will have applications in different domains.

Science and astronomy

Thanks to its performances in SWIR wavelength range, especially its low noise and low dark current, it will be directly useful for astronomy applications.

These astronomy applications can be ground telescopes (ESO) or space telescopes (ESA).

Space application for earth observation missions

Large IR detectors can also be used for other applications. Thanks to the development of large ROIC and large IR materials (from substrate to epilayers and detection circuit wafers) the field of application of large detectors can be extended to other space applications:

• Earth observation with high resolution requiring large numbers of pixels
• Hyper spectral missions where a high number of channels (rows of the IR array) are mandatory to multiply the analysis wavelengths of the scene to be observed.

ROIC, MCT and hybridization technologies developed in ASTEROID will be directly applicable to other types of Focal Plane Arrays:

• Validated thermo-mechanical modeling of FPA will make it possible to more efficiently design new FPA product
• The availability of low temperature ROIC / wafer bonding process will allow for lower stress build-up in ROIC / wafer bonded structures. This will lead to flatter ROIC, better hybridization yield, lower cost, better reliability