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Pixel level suppression of dark current in gate modulation input ROIC for IRFPAs

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Abstract

A modified gate modulation input (GMI) readout circuit has been proposed for pixel level suppression of dark current. We propose using a current memory circuit connected in parallel with the standard GMI stage. The GMI stage is kept unconnected initially and the current flowing through the detector gets injected into the memory circuit. Due to the memory effect, the same current keeps flowing there even when the GMI stage is connected. Thus, only the variations in the current pass in to the GMI stage and get integrated on the integration capacitor. This allows suppression of dark current, resulting in the improvement of dynamic range, linearity and maximum integration time, leading to lower noise and improved image performance. To demonstrate these improvements, we have simulated a unit cell in PSPICE using 180 nm CMOS technology models, connected with the equivalent circuit model of an HgCdTe photodiode. The proposed circuit has been found to work well with suppression of dark current, 99.9% linearity and one order of magnitude less noise compared to standard GMI cell at the cost of a little increase in power dissipation. The proposed technique is generic and equally suitable for other types of ROIC unit cell and other photo detectors as well.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are thankful to director SSPL for her encouragement and support to carry out this work and granting permission to publish it.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of ECE, IGDTUW, Kashmere Gate, Delhi, 110006, India

    Manik Dangi & Vandana Niranjan

  2. Solid State Physics Laboratory, Lucknow Road, Timarpur, Delhi, 110054, India

    Raghvendra Sahai Saxena

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  1. Manik Dangi
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  2. Raghvendra Sahai Saxena
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  3. Vandana Niranjan
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Correspondence to Raghvendra Sahai Saxena.

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Dangi, M., Saxena, R.S. & Niranjan, V. Pixel level suppression of dark current in gate modulation input ROIC for IRFPAs. Microsyst Technol 30, 177–183 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00542-023-05584-w

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