Consortium to Bolster Europe’s IR Sensor Capabilities

Infrared detector producer Lynred has launched HEROIC, a European Defence Fund project to develop advanced electronic components for next-generation infrared sensors, while consolidating the technology’s supply chain. One of the overarching aims is to grant Europe technological sovereignty in producing high-performance infrared sensors.

As a 10-member consortium led by Lynred, whose sensors support the aerospace, defense, and commercial markets, HEROIC (High Efficiency Read-Out Integrated Circuit) is a four-year project beginning this month with a budget of €19 million ($20 million). The project’s main objectives are to increase access to and dexterity in using a new European-derived advanced CMOS technology that offers key capabilities in developing the next generations of high-performance infrared sensors. These sensors will feature smaller pixels and advanced functions for defense applications.

The company said that as next-generation IR systems will need to exhibit longer detection, recognition, and identification ranges, as well as offer larger fields of view and faster frame rates, higher-resolution formats encompassing further reductions in pixel pitch sizes down from today’s standard 15 and 10 μm to 7.5 μm and below are needed. In addition, this will need to be obtained without increasing the small footprint of the IR sensor, thus maintaining reasonable system costs and mechanical/electrical interfaces. These requirements make the qualification of a new CMOS technology imperative to achieving higher performance at the IR sensor level.

The consortium members include three IR manufacturers (AIM Infrarot-Module GmbH, Lynred, and Xenics); four system integrators (Indra, Miltech Hellas, Kongsberg, and PCO SA); a component provider (Ideas); and two research institutions (CEA-Leti and the University of Seville).