French Government Invests in SWIR Sensors Development

NIT and the French National Research Institute at Sorbonne University have entered into a research partnership, with the aim of producing SWIR sensors using HgTe quantum dot materials deposited on ROIC.

The Institute of Nano Sciences from Sorbonne University is currently researching and producing quantum dot materials of HgTe sensitive in the SWIR to MWIR wavelength range. Preliminary tests of QCD deposition on NIT ROIC’s have shown impressive results.

This strategy is promising to design low-cost and small pixel pitch focal plane array, as well as to expand the spectral range of the SWIR camera up to 2.5 µm.

This collaborative program is funded by the French National Research Agency. 

“After 10 years of researching infrared imaging nanocrystal films we have been able to obtain impressive SWIR images when coupled to a NIT ROIC. Through this project, we now enter into a new step of collaboration to bring this proof of concept to a SWIR commercially available camera“ says Emmanuel Lhuillier – CNRS researcher and NITQuantum project principal investigator.

“This is a major breakthrough in the life of NIT as this partnership will allow us to offer a full line of SWIR sensors and cameras in large volumes and at low price. This technology benefits from the overall imaging sensor market as it shares its common manufacturing platforms. No doubt this novel sensor technology will become the standard in SWIR sensors in 3 to 5 years,” says Pierre Potet, CEO, New Imaging Technologies (NIT).

ALA News: Lynred announces an investment of 2.8M euros in a project aiming to develop a new generation of infrared detectors. This project was selected among the winners of the Call for Projects (AAP) Recovery Plan for Industry - Strategic Sectors launched on August 31, 2020. The State must pay a subsidy of € 900,000 for this 24-month project. .

The Lynred project aims to develop a new French sector of near infrared detectors with small pixel pitch. This new sector will make it possible to meet the needs of the infrared imaging markets for applications in industrial control and spectral imaging, for example the sorting of plastics.

In addition to developing around twenty jobs, this project will reduce the level of dependence on imports by relocating part of the development and production activity in France, previously subcontracted abroad - one of the strong axes of the Recovery Plan.

"We are proud that our project is one of the winners of this initiative for the resilience of the economy," welcomes Jean-François Delepau, President of Lynred. “Lynred's raison d'être is to supply state-of-the-art infrared detectors worldwide and to guarantee the sustainability of an autonomous and sovereign French infrared sector. The investment made within the framework of the project meets this ambition for the near infrared, and is therefore fully in line with the resilience objective pursued by the French State in the Recovery Plan for the strategic sector of infrared detectors."