PtSi detector

Measurements were carried out with an infrared video camera (PtSi-crystal detector with 256x256 pixel) from AIM (Aegais). This detector is cooled by a Stirling cooler to 75 K it is sensitive to IR radiation in the wavelength range of 3-5 pm. The image was focused by Ge-lenses with a focus of 28 mm. 

Photoemissive Schottky detector (metal-silicide detector) Utilizes internal photoexcitation at a Schottky barrier, e.g., at PtSi... 

For special applications where high speed, improved sensitivity, or spectral selectivity is required, cooled photodetector arrays are used. These include PtSi, InSb, HgCdTe, and most recently GaAs QWIPs, all of which require cooling. The spectral response characteristics of these detectors are illustrated in Fig. 2.16. 

There are two major detector materials in the near infrared, mercury cadmium telluride (Hg Cd Te), and indium antimony (In Sb), although some lower efficiency detector arrays have been made with platinum silicide (PtSi). This wavelength region was the first to utilize arrays and is the most developed to date. Part of this has been due to the development in the early 1990s of Hg Cd Te arrays for the NICMOS on the HST. The NICMOS arrays contained 256 X 256 elements. Currently, 2048 x 2048 arrays of both Hg Cd Te and ln Sb are under development. 

Near-IR images of IC 342 in the J, H and K bands were taken on the 1.3m at Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO) using the Simultaneous Quad Infrared Imaging Detector (SQIID) on the night of October 26, 1992. The SQIID uses cold dichroic beam splitters to simultaneously image J, H, K and L onto Hughes 256x256 hybrid PtSi Schottky barrier diode arrays. 

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