Co-packaging Digital Readout Integrated Circuits and Photonics for Advanced Infrared Imaging

SBIR · Phase: BOTH · Topic OSW26BZ05-NV021 · Solicitation 26.BZ

State of the art infrared digital focal plane arrays (FPAs) can produce >20 Gbps when operated at standard video framerates and in large formats. Designing output drivers for this bitstream in a cryogenic environment is nontrivial. It requires careful balancing of the electrical, mechanical, and thermal constraints of the readout integrated circuit (ROIC). Industry surveys indicate that the current state of practice is limited to just under 3 Gbps per channel and 10 pJ/bit. In a large format FPA, the power consumption for data transfer becomes significant and acts to shorten cryocooler lifetimes. A paradigm shift is required. Photonic integrated circuits (PICs) are viewed as a potential solution to the ROIC output driver issue. PICs can improve the ROIC bandwidth, latency, and energy consumption by a factor of 10 or more compared to standard electronic IO practices. Unfortunately, all demonstrations to date have utilized mostly off-the-shelf ROICs with PIC chiplets on an interposer. While this reduces the thermal load of the electrical wiring, it does very little to change the overall power consumption. A fully monolithic design is needed. Fortunately, several foundries now offer 45-180 nm CMOS/PIC capabilities. The envisioned effort will demonstrate a tri-service ready capability to either completely integrate electronics and photonics on a single silicon wafer, or perform foundry-level integration of both a photonic and an electronic layer before detector hybridization. The primary objective of this effort is to demonstrate high-speed, ultra-low-power optical channel operations within cryogenic environments. The supporting Readout Integrated Circuit (ROIC) design must support high-throughput data generation. To facilitate benchmarking and diagnostic testing, the system should feature independent and configurable electrical and optical outputs. While specialized design hardening for space and high-radiation environments is advantageous to support long-term survivability, it remains an optional parameter.

SBIR/STTR 은 미국 중소기업만 지원할 수 있습니다(Small Business Act 법정 요건). • 계열사를 포함해 상시 종업원 500명 이하 • 미국 시민 또는 영주권자 1인 이상이 50%를 초과해 직접 소유·지배 • 미국 내 사업장을 두고 주로 미국 내에서 사업을 영위할 것 • 수행책임자(PI)의 주된 근무처가 신청 기업일 것 출처: https://www.sbir.gov/faq/eligibility-requirements

Primary country

🇺🇸 United States

Also eligible

None

Foreign companies

No

Local entity

Required

Location condition

미국 내 사업장을 두고 미국 시민·영주권자가 50%를 초과해 소유한 중소기업만 신청할 수 있습니다(법정 요건).

Document requirements were not captured (needs verification). Check the official announcement.

Application process not captured.

Evaluation process not captured.

Process steps were not captured.

Generated by local:rules-v1 · 4h ago

The announcement does not say what has to be submitted, so the disclosure exposure cannot be judged. the scope of the material requested is not stated. The awarding body is U.S. Department of War — OSD. 8 fields could not be read and must be checked in the announcement and the grant agreement.

This assessment is derived from the stored announcement, document and contract fields. Anything the source does not state is marked "needs verification" — it never asserts that your idea will be taken. Generated by local:rules-v1 · 4h ago

Official URL

https://www.dodsbirsttr.mil/topics-app/

Application URL

https://www.dodsbirsttr.mil/topics-app/

Last fetched

2026.08.20

Human review

Not reviewed — check the official announcement

First seen

2026.08.20

Data status

Auto-collected, not reviewed

AI enrichment

local:rules-v1 · 4h ago