Technique for Monolithic Fabrication of Microlens Arrays Integrated with Infrared CCD

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Monolithic integration technology between microlens arrays and infrared charge coupled devices

In this paper, we develop an integration technology between Si microlens and 256(H)×256(V) element PtSi Schottky-barrier infrared charge coupled device (IR-CCD) to improve the optical responsivity of CCD sensor. The refractive microlenses with the pixel size of approximately 28×28 μm² is directly fabricated on the backside of CCD substrate to focus the incident irradiation onto the active area. For the integration device the fill factor is improved by a factor of 2.1. As a result, the IR-CCD image sensors operating at 77 K indicate an approximate 0.06–0.4 increase in relative optical responsivity in the spectral range of from 1 to 5 μm. CCD imaging quality with microlens has been improved comparing to that without microlens to a great extent.     

用于红外焦平面的正方形孔径球面微透镜阵列研究

针对目前红外焦平面光敏阵列中存在的占空比小、光能利用率低的实际问题,展开了正方形孔径球面微透镜阵列制作及其与红外焦平面阵列集成应用的研究.本文从红外焦平面光敏阵列特点入手,对比分析了正方形孔径相比于传统圆形孔径微透镜阵列在光能利用上的优势.提出正方形孔径微透镜阵列激光直写变剂量曝光制作技术,建立光刻胶曝光数学模型和正方形球面微透镜面型函数,以此为基础,编制直写设备变剂量曝光控制软件;利用长春理工大的学复合坐标激光直写系统和等离子刻蚀机进行相关工艺实验,制作了阵列256×256、单元尺寸40×40μm2、球面半径60μm、单元间距1μm的红外石英微透镜阵列;并将其与相应阵列的碲-镉-汞红外光敏阵列进行集成.结果表明:微透镜的占空比达到95%,红外焦平面光能利用率从原来的60%提高到90%以上.由此得出结论:变剂量曝光制作微透镜技术是可行的,正方形孔径球面微透镜阵列代替圆形孔径微透镜阵列,对于提高红外探测器的灵敏度、信噪比、分辨率等性能具备明显优势.     

Monolithic Integration of Diffractive Microlens Arrays and Infrared Focal Plane Arrays

Monolithic integration method has been demonstrated to increase the fill factor of the infrared focal plane arrays (IRFPA). Which is consists of 256×256 Pt-Si schottky barrier charge coupled devices(CCD) operation in 3-5m IR region. The relative silicon 256×256 element diffractive microlens arrays have been fabricated on the back side of the substrate of the IRFPA using binary optics technology. The aligning process between IRFPA and microlens arrays on each side of the substrate has been completed by IR mask aligner. The testing results show that the imaging quality is very good and the average optical response of the IR FPA is increased by a factor of 3.0, which is improved by about 25% compared with the hybrid integration method in the previous work.     

折射型微透镜列阵的光刻热熔法研究

研究了制作折射型微透镜列阵的一种新方法光刻胶热熔成形法，获得了２０×２０的折射型微透镜列阵，单元微透镜相对口径为Ｆ／２，单元透镜直径为９０μｍ，中心间隔１００μｍ，透镜的波像差小于１．３波长。本文详细阐述了光刻热熔法的基本原理及微透镜设计方法，并讨论了工艺参数对微透镜列阵质量的影响。     

Monolithic integration technique for microlens arrays with infrared focal plane arrays

Based on scalar diffraction theory, 8-phase-level 256×290 element diffractive microlens arrays with lenslet dimension of 50×33 μm² have been fabricated on the back side of PtSi infrared focal plane arrays. The design and fabrication process are discussed. The measurement results indicate that the imaging quality has been greatly improved and the ratio of the signal-to-noise of the infrared focal plane array integration with microlens array is increased by a factor of 2.5.     

硫系玻璃在现代红外热成像系统中的应用

介绍了硫系红外玻璃的组成成分,分析了其独特的优势,建立了红外热成像系统中各个参数和温度之间关系的数学模型。基于硫系玻璃折射率温度系数小、成本低的优点,将硫系玻璃应用于红外热成像探测系统,并给出了一种折射式的中波红外热成像消热差探测系统实例,评价结果表明,该系统在低温-40 ℃、常温20 ℃、高温60 ℃都取得了良好的成像质量,适用于像元数为320 pixel×256 pixel,像元尺寸为30 μm×30 μm的中波红外凝视型焦平面阵列探测器。     

Hybrid Integration Between Long Focus Microlens Array and IR Detector Array

A special method, named step simulation method, is proposed for fabricating Si microlens array to improve the performance of infrared focal plane array (IR FPA). The focus length of rectangle-based multistep microlens array with element dimension of 40 µm×30 µm is 885.4 µm by the method, which is much longer than the focus length of microlens array fabricated by conventional Fresnel binary optics technique., The large-scale 256×256 element microlens array is hybridintegrated with the PtSi Schottky-barrier IR FPA by optical adhesive. The test results show that diffractive spot size of the microlens is 17 µm×15 µm and the average optical response of the IR FPA is increased by a factor of 2.4.     

用于红外焦平面的正方形孔径球面微透镜阵列研究

针对目前红外焦平面光敏阵列中存在的占空比小、光能利用率低的实际问题,展开了正方形孔径球面微透镜阵列制作及其与红外焦平面阵列集成应用的研究.本文从红外焦平面光敏阵列特点入手,对比分析了正方形孔径相比于传统圆形孔径微透镜阵列在光能利用上的优势.提出正方形孔径微透镜阵列激光直写变剂量曝光制作技术,建立光刻胶曝光数学模型和正方形球面微透镜面型函数,以此为基础,编制直写设备变剂量曝光控制软件;利用长春理工大的学复合坐标激光直写系统和等离子刻蚀机进行相关工艺实验,制作了阵列256×256、单元尺寸40×40 μm²、球面半径60 μm、单元间距1 μm的红外石英微透镜阵列;并将其与相应阵列的碲-镉-汞红外光敏阵列进行集成.结果表明:微透镜的占空比达到95%,红外焦平面光能利用率从原来的60%提高到90% 以上.由此得出结论:变剂量曝光制作微透镜技术是可行的,正方形孔径球面微透镜阵列代替圆形孔径微透镜阵列,对于提高红外探测器的灵敏度、信噪比、分辨率等性能具备明显优势.     

6倍制冷型中红外连续变焦光学系统设计

提出了一种求解变焦方程的新方法,并针对中红外320×256元制冷型焦平面阵列探测器,设计了一个3.7～4.8 μm波段的透射式红外连续变焦距光学系统,其F数恒定为2,最小焦距值为22 mm,变倍比为6。系统由变焦物镜和二次成像系统构成,包括7片硅、锗透镜,并引入非球面以校正系统各种轴外像差,同时利用两个平面反射镜折叠光路以减小尺寸。在空间频率16 lp/mm处和全焦距范围内,系统各个视场的光学调制传递函数均大于0.55;在接收面为30 μm×30 μm的探测器敏感元内,能量集中度大于80%。因此该系统具有较好的成像质量。     

Low irradiance background limited type-II superlattice MWIR M-barrier imager

We report a type-II superlattice mid-wave infrared 320×256 imager at 81 K with the M-barrier design that achieved background limited performance (BLIP) and ～99% operability. The 280 K blackbody's photon irradiance was limited by an aperture and a band-pass filter from 3.6 μm to 3.8 μm resulting in a total flux of ～5×10(12) ph.cm(-2).s(-1). Under these low-light conditions, and consequently the use of a 13.5 ms integration time, the imager was observed to be BLIP thanks to a ～5 pA dark current from the 27 μm wide pixels. The total noise was dominated by the photon flux and read-out circuit which gave the imager a noise equivalent input of ～5×10(10) ph.cm(-2).s(-1) and temperature sensitivity of 9 mK with F/2.3 optics. Excellent imagery obtained using a 1-point correction alludes to the array's uniform responsivity.     

含有双层衍射光学元件的中波/长波消热差光学系统的设计

建立了工作在一定入射角度范围内的多层衍射光学元件的复合带宽积分平均衍射效率的分析模型。基于衍射光学元件所具有的独特的消色差和消热差性质,设计了一个含有双层衍射光学元件的工作在(3.7~4.8) μm和(7.7~9.5) μm红外双波段光学系统。光学系统的焦距为200 mm,F#为2。采用像元数为320×256、间距为30 μm的制冷型探测器。该系统在空间频率17 lp/mm时,中、长波红外MTF分别高于0.66和0.54;最大RMS半径小于11.702 μm;波前像差小于0.191 7λ;最大离焦量小于焦深;在-55℃~71℃范围内实现了无热化设计。入射到衍射面上的角度为0°~5.19°,该双层衍射光学元件在中波和长波波段的复合带宽积分平均衍射效率分别为99.81%和97.36%。含有双层衍射光学元件的红外双波段光学系统结构简单,像质优良,可以广泛应用于军事探测系统中。     

Design and fabrication of a negative microlens array

An operation model of a negative microlens array is demonstrated. The array consists of two kinds of materials with different refractive indices. First of all, a positive microlens array with 256×256 elements serving as a pattern is fabricated by argon ion beam etching on the quartz. The diameter and average corona height of the element are 28 and 0.638 μm, respectively. The spacing between two neighboring elements is 2 μm. In the second phase, after being coated by epoxy, the positive microlens array pattern is spun and baked, leading to a complex negative microlens array. Surface stylus measurement shows that the surface of the positive quartz microlens array is smooth and uniform. Focal length measurement of the negative microlens array indicates that the focal length region with −731±3 μm is in good agreement with the theoretical calculation value of −729 μm.     

Design and Fabrication of Silcon Microlens with Low SAG for 528(H) × 528(V) Infrared Charge-Coupled Device Application

Microlens array is an important optical element to improve the photosensitivity of charge-coupled device (CCD). In this paper, a monolithic integration technology between microlens and 528 × 528 element PtSi Schottky-barrier infrared charge-coupled device (IRCCD) with a pixel size of 30m × 30m has been developed. The microlens array with low sag and long focal length is designed based on geometrical optics theory. It is directly formed on the back side of the substrate in IRCCD chip using successive photolithography and A⁺ ion beam etching (IBE) technology. The microlens array is characterized by both surface stylus and point spread function (PSF). The experiment results of integration device between IRCCD and microlens array indicate that the optical signal response is improved obviously and a responsivity increase by a factor of 1.8 in the operation band.     

扩展微透镜数值孔径范围的阶梯光刻热熔法研究

在微透镜阵列的光刻热熔制作法中，临界角效应严重影响了微透镜的制作范围和面形质量。在对临界角效应定性研究的基础上，提出了用阶梯光刻熔法来扩展热熔型微透镜阵列的数值孔径范围。实验结果表明，采用这一方法制作的微透镜，其单元孔径范围扩展为５０￣９００μｍ，相对口径范围扩大到为Ｆ／１￣Ｆ／１０，并有效地改善了临界角效应对大孔径微透镜面形质量的影响。     

用按需滴定技术制备聚合物微透镜阵列

采用高分子聚合物-单体混合溶液按需滴定-原位热聚合的新方法制作折射微透镜及其阵列.制备透镜的主要材料是甲基丙烯酸甲酯及其聚合物.制备的微透镜直径在1 mm～3 mm范围内,矢高为100 μm～400 μm,透镜焦距在1 mm～4 mm之间.所得微透镜在波长λ=1.55 μm处有很好的光学透过率(90%),适于作光通信耦合器件.用AFM-Ⅱ型原子力显微镜测得微透镜阵列的表面粗糙度Ra约等于0.9 nm,并通过液体的表面张力理论分析了微透镜的形成机理.     

非制冷高变倍比连续变焦光学系统的设计

针对长波非制冷氧化钒320240像元焦平面阵列探测器,像元间距25 m25 m,采用变焦距光学系统设计原理,引入非球面和衍射面设计技术进行像差平衡,设计了长波红外连续变焦光学系统。该系统工作波段为8 m～12 m,视场为2.86～50连续可变,F数为1.2,变倍比为18∶1,在整个变焦范围内,光学调制传递函数在0.5以上,接近衍射极限,并且全视场能量70％集中在探测器的一个像元内。整个变焦光学系统仅使用一种红外材料(单晶锗)进行像差矫正。     

Ultrathin Planar Microlens Arrays Based on Geometric Metasurface

Ascribing to the properties of two dimensional parallel focusing and imaging, low propagation loss, integration and miniaturization, microlens array has been widely used in imaging, optical communication, organic light emitting devices, adaptive optics, photolithography, biomedical and other applications. However, the existing traditional microlens array suffers from difficulty in fabrication, large‐thickness, curved surface, non‐uniformity of light spots, or requirement of additional discrete components to control the microlens. Herein, a planar microlens array is experimentally demonstrated based on the geometric metasurface. The single microlens is composed of space‐variant subwavelength metallic gratings with high polarization conversion efficiency and thus exhibits gradient phase distribution. The focused spot diameter of 22.5 μm with radius of 350 μm, focal length of 1 cm and the light spots intensity uniformity of 0.9885 (standard deviation 0.0115) at the focal plane are obtained. Moreover, the broadband property of microlens array is also confirmed. The novel design strategy for microlens array would facilitate the miniaturization of optical devices and be easily integrated in the optical interconnected devices.     

Multifocal optical-resolution photoacoustic microscopy in vivo

Although ultrasound arrays have been exploited in photoacoustic imaging to improve imaging speed, ultrasound-array-based optical-resolution photoacoustic microscopy (OR-PAM) has never been achieved previously to our knowledge. Here we present our development of multifocal OR-PAM using a microlens array for optical illumination and an ultrasound array for photoacoustic detection. Our system is capable of imaging hemoglobin concentration and oxygenation in individual microvessels in vivo at high speed. Compared with a single focus, multiple foci reduce the scanning load and increase the imaging speed significantly. The current multifocal system can acquire 1000 × 500 × 200 voxels at ~10 μm lateral resolution within 4 min.     

高变倍比大相对口径长波红外变焦系统设计

针对传统红外连续变焦系统难以同时满足高变倍比和大相对口径的使用要求,通过采用复合变焦光学系统结构,增加传统红外连续变焦光学系统的变焦距范围和相对口径。基于长波红外320×240像元、25 μm×25 μm非制冷焦平面探测器,设计了一款高变倍比大相对口径长波红外变焦光学系统, 光学系统由一个连续变焦部分与两档变焦部分组成,通过引入衍射光学元件校正长焦端色差,工作波段为8 μm~12 μm,焦距变化范围为-9 mm~-272.25 mm,F数为1.4。该系统具有成像质量好、变倍比高、相对口径大、导程小和凸轮曲线平滑等优点。