Sensors / Detectors / Transducers
Long-Wave IR Detector suits military applications.
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Press Release Summary:
Manufactured using hybridization Mercury Cadmium Telluride technology, Venus compact, high resolution, 1/4 TV format IR detector features pixel uniformity across entire surface. Product offers 25 µm pitch and 330 Hz max frame rate. With 50% more pixels on same size chip as industry standard 320 x 256, detector lets manufacturers upgrade from 320 x 256 to 384 x 288 IR quality using existing optics.
Original Press Release:
Sofradir's Venus, a Compact Higher Resolution 1/4 TV Format LW Infrared Detector for Military Applications, is Ready for Shipment
Venus, a 384x288 long-wave cooled IR detector, brings affordable prices and full performance to Sofradir's defense customers
Sofradir will be demonstrating Venus at SPIE's Defense and Security Conference, booth 922, March 29 - 31, 2005 in Orlando, FL.
Grenoble, March 24, 2005 -- Sofradir, a developer and manufacturer of advanced infrared detectors for military, space and industrial applications, today announced that Venus, a compact higher resolution 1/4 TV format (384x288) long-wave infrared detector is in production and ready for shipment.
Venus significantly upgrades the performance of military infrared systems in armored transportation, airborne vehicles and industrial control applications. It also addresses defense procurement agency demands for greater reliability in IR detection and brings a lower cost solution to system upgrades. It features a 25micrometre pitch, a 330 Hz maximum frame rate, and low input power consumption. Venus has already been selected by major European vehicle programs involving several hundred units.
Recent breakthroughs in Sofradir's Mercury Cadmium Telluride (MCT) material process have played a significant part in the development of this new product. The key breakthrough is improved pixel uniformity. To achieve first class IR image quality, pixel response must be the same across the whole surface of the device. "Venus offers close to 50 per cent more pixels than the 320x256," says Sofradir VP R&D and Technology Philippe Tribolet. "This brings both improved image resolution and uniformity thus giving users better detection and a greater identification range".
Venus' compact footprint is also crucial. It has been built on the same size chip as the industry standard 320x256. This means that Sofradir has succeeded in increasing the resolution of its IR detector without enlarging the size of the chip. This brings a no-brainer business case for thermal camera manufacturers to use the new range. "Manufacturers can upgrade from 320x256 to 384x288 IR quality pretty well using existing optics. This is what makes Venus an affordable upgrade," adds Tribolet.
"The market for cooled IR detectors is reaching maturity and along with it a growing demand from military procurement agencies for greater product reliability and decreasing costs," says Tribolet. "With Venus, we have improved the stability and uniformity, and increased the frame rate of the image. We have lowered power consumption and made it compact to respond to these demands head on."
About MCT technology
Sofradir's hybridization MCT technology is a silicon-like implantation process that it is high yield and has well-established, simplified steps, and proving the most proficient at controlling the pixel diodes and the accuracy of Indium bump positioning (these bumps are the connection pads that seal the detection circuit and the read out integrated circuit together). This control enables Sofradir make smaller diodes, thus smaller detectors.
About Sofradir (http://www.sofradir.com)
Sofradir, founded in 1986, is one of a handful of companies around the world who produce infrared detectors. Ranked No. 2 for units delivered, the company has approximately 20 - 25 per cent of the world MCT second-generation detector market. Together with its subsidiary Ulis (specialists in uncooled IR detectors), Sofradir generated 63 M dollars in revenues in 2004. Sofradir directly exports more than 50 per cent of its products. Customers include the US Army, Thales, Sagem, BAE Systems, and the ESA (European Space Agency). The company's shareholders are Thales, Sagem and Areva.
Pioneers of MCT second and third generation IR detectors, Sofradir has a vast product portfolio of scanning and staring arrays that cover the entire infrared spectrum using MCT (Mercury Cadmium Telluride), QWIP or microbolometer technology platforms. Defense and security equipment manufacturers, worldwide, purchase Sofradir's high-grade IR detectors for application in thermal imagers, missile seekers, satellites, and other surveillance, targeting and homing infrared equipment. Sofradir's long- and mid-wave IR detectors have been deployed in battlefield equipment, such as the Storm Shadow/SCALP EG IR missile seeker, the Sophie Hand Held Imager, IRIS cameras and SADA II.
Sofradir is located in Veurey Voroize (near Grenoble), France. Sofradir and Ulis employ 300 people.
