Edward S Cheng

US Patent:

6420691, Jul 16, 2002

Filed:

Jul 8, 1999

Appl. No.:

09/349898

Inventors:

Edwin D. Loh - Okemos MI
Edward S. Cheng - Lanham MD

Assignee:

The United States of America as represented by the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration - Washington DC

International Classification:

H01L 27148

US Classification:

2502081, 257437, 348311

Abstract:

A charge-coupled device with a low-emissivity metal layer located between a sensing layer and a substrate provides reduction in ghost images. In a typical charge-coupled device of a silicon sensing layer, a silicon dioxide insulating layer, with a glass substrate and a metal carrier layer, a near-infrared photon, not absorbed in the first pass, enters the glass substrate, reflects from the metal carrier, thereby returning far from the original pixel in its entry path. The placement of a low-emissivity metal layer between the glass substrate and the sensing layer reflects near infrared photons before they reach the substrate so that they may be absorbed in the silicon nearer the pixel of their points of entry so that the reflected ghost image is coincident with the primary image for a sharper, brighter image.

US Patent:

20180003559, Jan 4, 2018

Filed:

Jun 21, 2017

Appl. No.:

15/629297

Inventors:

- Washington DC, US
MARKUS LOOSE - Thousand Oaks CA, US
ATUL JOSHI - Thousand Oaks CA, US
GREG T. ALKIRE - Chester MD, US
DANIEL P. KELLY - Columbia MD, US
EDWARD S. CHENG - Glenn Dale MD, US

International Classification:

G01J 3/10
G01J 1/02
G01J 1/42
G01J 1/44

Abstract:

A custom application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) may provide strong signal integrity while reducing the load to a thermal system. Control and analog-to-digital conversion may be pushed into components close to the detector to maximize signal integrity. Processing functions may be performed at relatively high temperature, or the highest allowable temperatures, simplifying the system-level thermal design by not cooling components that do not require such cooling to function.