SiGeSn LADAR Receiver

OUSD (R&E) MODERNIZATION PRIORITY: Microelectronics TECHNOLOGY AREA(S): Sensors The technology within this topic is restricted under the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR), 22 CFR Parts 120-130, which controls the export and import of defense-related material and services, including export of sensitive technical data, or the Export Administration Regulation (EAR), 15 CFR Parts 730-774, which controls dual use items. Offerors must disclose any proposed use of foreign nationals (FNs), their country(ies) of origin, the type of visa or work permit possessed, and the statement of work (SOW) tasks intended for accomplishment by the FN(s) in accordance with the Announcement. Offerors are advised foreign nationals proposed to perform on this topic may be restricted due to the technical data under US Export Control Laws. Please direct questions to the Air Force SBIR/STTR HelpDesk: usaf.team@afsbirsttr.us. OBJECTIVE: Design and fabricate a LADAR Receiver based on SiGeSn avalanche photodiodes and operating at 2.0-2.2 um. DESCRIPTION: LADAR receivers are routinely used for target identification purposes and require expensive, cooled detector materials such as HgCdTe. Meanwhile, military sensor costs must be commensurate with platform costs, preventing widespread implementation of LADAR. A low cost APD material would enable the next generation of extended SWIR LADAR across a multitude of platforms. SiGeSn has been identified as a low-cost sensing material. Lasers, detectors, and avalanche photodiodes have already been demonstrated. However, no one has assembled a full LADAR receiver, or array, that avoids hybridization and creates gain. The goal of this D2P2 program is (a) to leverage extensive work on SiGeSn devices to create a LADAR receiver, (b) design a receiver that can be implemented as a backend of line CMOS process, and (c) create a full system demonstration at wavelengths beyond 2 um. The requirements for meeting these goals are: the operating temperature should be greater than 200 K; the pixel pitch should be less than 100 um; the EQE-gain product should be greater than 500%; and the pixels should have a bandwidth greater than 100 MHz. No use of government materials, equipment data, or facilities is anticipated. PHASE I: Provide documentation of Phase I-like feasibility; for example: i) publication or presentation in a scientific or technical journal or conference reporting growth and/or device fabrication in the SiGeSn system; ii) APD device design including the SiGeSn epitaxial stack for an array to be developed in the Phase II effort iii) Demonstrate device modeling results for SiGeSn APDs iv) Demonstrate prior APD fabrication experience in another material system (not SiGeSn) and confirmed supplier for SiGeSn epitaxial source material PHASE II: Demonstrate a 16 x 16 LADAR receiver operating at 2.0-2.2 um using SiGeSn APDs without hybridization. The EQE-gain product shall be greater than 500% and the pixel pitch shall be less than 100 um. PHASE III DUAL USE APPLICATIONS: Demonstrate a 128 x 128 single photon LADAR receiver operating at 2.0-2.2 um using SiGeSn APDs without hybridization. The EQE-gain product shall be greater than 500% and the pixel pitch shall be less than 100 um. REFERENCES: Zhou, Yiyin, Huong Tran, Wei Du, Jifeng Liu, Greg Sun, Richard Soref, Joe Margetis et al. "Mid-Infrared GeSn/SiGeSn Lasers and Photodetectors Monolithically Integrated on Silicon." In CLEO: Science and Innovations, pp. JM2E-1. Optical Society of America, 2020.; Conley, Benjamin Ryan. "GeSn Devices for Short-Wave Infrared Optoelectronics." (2014).; Chen, Qimiao, Shaoteng Wu, Lin Zhang, Weijun Fan, and Chuan Seng Tan. "Simulation of high-efficiency resonant-cavity-enhanced GeSn single-photon avalanche photodiodes for sensing and optical quantum applications." IEEE Sensors Journal (2021). KEYWORDS: LiDAR; LADAR; SiGeSn; GeSiSn; Hybridization; avalanche photodiode