
The infrared imaging market for military applications is dominated by the use of Mercury Cadmium Telluride (MCT) detectors in night vision equipment, surveillance and smart munitions. MCT however is very fragile and must be grown as a thin film on a compatible substrate. Using Kromek's Cadmium Zinc Telluride (CZT) material as the substrate perfectly matches with the MCT film due to similar atomic lattice spacing and thermal expansion coefficients. CZT is overwhelmingly the preferred material of choice for this application. Kromek produces large diameter (currently 4") wafers and the technology will be extended to grow up to 12" diameter single crystal wafers addressing the ongoing demand for larger area focal plan array (FPA) devices.
