BAE Systems, which acquired hybrid ferroelectric technology from Marconi's Electronics Systems business unit, is selling its imaging FPAs for both commercial and military use with price and performance levels commensurate with U.S. manufacturers. Fulop expects Sofradir will go into production with its system sometime this year. Amorphous silicon microbolometer and ferroelectric thin films are an active area of development for U.S. manufacturers as well, including Raytheon. Improving performance Contrary to most work related to array size, one of Raytheon's efforts is aimed at reducing the size and cost of their microbolometer arrays from the usual 320 X 240 pixels to 160 X 120. According to Fulop, Raytheon hopes these smaller arrays will meet the needs of military and other surveillance applications, where low-resolution distributed sensing is the order of the day.
Larger arrays are also in demand for long-range imaging systems, such as targeting systems.
Fulop believes non-U.S. companies are not likely to lead development in this area. Then the next step is clearly the larger array, but you've got to control the first process before you take the next step. Several companies are beginning to turn the corner in the search for better manufacturing yields. Only a few years ago, some manufacturing processes were nearly lost due to low yields. When the industry reaches that plateau, uncooled may be very cool indeed.