Mercury Cadmium Telluride (MCT) IR Focal Plane Arrays (FPAs) have drastically boosted the observational capabilities of space IR payloads. In the US, industrial production of MCT IR FPAs with formats up to 4K×4K pixels is established, while in Europe, initiatives from space agencies and most advanced EU manufacturers are currently on-going to progress on large format MCT hybrids such as 2kx2k, though the industrial set-up necessary to support operational space programs remains to be elaborated and mature. As instruments designers are asking for larger size FPAs, EU detector manufacturers are losing ground with respect to US competitors.
T2SL technology is an alternative to MCT for the manufacturing of IR FPAs. In the US, progress on T2SL FPA development led to up to 8K×8K IR FPAs demonstrations, but like US MCT ones, these are not easily available for the EU market due to strong export/ITAR restrictions. Moreover, US ROICs feature better performances and interfaces compared to their EU counterparts.
The STEP project will provide a disruptive European supply chain fully focused on the design and manufacturing of competitive and affordable large format T2SL eSWIR FPAs. STEP will incorporate all steps of the IR FPA production chain: detector design, large scale growth, fabrication, hybridization, large format and high performances scalable ROIC with dedicated features to improve eSWIR space FPA performances, and evaluation of large Space Prototype FPAs (including space environment evaluation).
STEP will benefit from a European complementary consortium team: Airbus, the well-known space industrial (requirements, performances testing, environment evaluation, space missions insertion and business plan), the European leader in T2SL manufacturing, IRnova (high performances eSWIR T2SL design & characterization, FPA Space Prototype manufacturing and non-space applications insertion), a world class RTO, Fraunhofer IAF (T2SL manufacturing and characterization), and a leader in aerospace research ISAE-SUPAERO (high performance large format ROIC design & validation and establishment of a EU large format digital space ROIC line).
STEP specific objectives are the following:
- [O1] Validate eSWIR T2SL technology for space applications
- [O2] Demonstrate European non-dependence for eSWIR T2SL FPA production
- [O3] Provide suitable state-of-the-art ROIC
- [O4] Enhance eSWIR prototype FPA architecture
- [O5] Develop hardware and software for T2SL eSWIR FPAs evaluation
- [O6] Characterize eSWIR FPAs
- [O7] Evaluate FPAs' space program environment compatibility
- [O8] Set foundations for commercial exploitation and space mission insertion
