The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 27, 1998
Filed:
Apr. 03, 1997
Donald F Weirauch, Dallas, TX (US);
Raytheon TI Systems, Inc., Lewisville, TX (US);
Abstract
This is an uncooled HgCdTe IR sensor, and method of fabricating an uncooled HgCdTe IR sensor. The method comprises; growing an HgCdTe film on an IR transparent substrate, and shaping the substrate into a lens configuration. The HgCdTe IR sensor can comprise an epitaxial, HgCdTe film on an IR transparent substrate, with the substrate shaped in a lens configuration, creating an intregal, controlled (e.g. wide angle) field of view sensor. Reflections at the interface between the HgCdTe and the lens are substantially reduced, and problems of attaching HgCdTe to the lens are also substantially reduced. Preferably, the HgCdTe film is grown by liquid phase epitaxy, the substrate is CdZnTe or CdTe, and/or the substrate is shaped into a hemisphere or a cylindrical section. In one embodiment, an IR transparent overlayer is grown on an HgCdTe film 10 and the substrate is shaped into a hemisphere lens 16 and the IR transparent overlayer is shaped into an hemispherical lens 18. The HgCdTe film may also have a top surface with a non-uniform compositional gradient, to provide an HgCdTe IR sensor which can detect a wide range of optical wavelengths.