Abstract: A Group II-VI photodetector array 12 is coupled to a silicon readout circuit 14 by means of a thermal/mechanical buffer 16 comprised of a body of material which has a characteristic thermal expansivity which is more similar to that of the thermal expansivity of the Group II-VI material than that of silicon. One suitable material is Al.sub.2 O.sub.3. The buffer has a plurality of conductive vias 18 formed therethrough, each of the conductive vias being "bumped" at opposite ends thereof. The buffer accommodates the differing expansivities of, for example, HgCdTe and silicon, thereby relieving thermally generated stresses with a consequent improvement in the reliability of the resulting hybrid structure.

Abstract: A high temperature superconductor (HTS) fabrication process employs a two level metal deposition sequence for depositing a layer of metal (14, 18) over HTS material (12) to protect the HTS material from subsequent, possibly deleterious, processing steps. The process of the invention provides a capability for both patterning a HTS film material and electrically contacting the film using conventional photolithographic processes. The process of the invention furthermore accomplishes these objectives without degrading the superconducting properties of the film. The two level metal process protects the film from aqueous based processes such as photoresist development. The two level metal process furthermore does not require processes such as aqueous based chemical etching or ion milling of the surfaces of the superconducting film, thereby eliminating at least two processes which are known to degrade the superconducting properties of HTS material.

Abstract: A method is disclosed for forming a detector device, such as a thinned bulk silicon blocked impurity transducer infrared detector, by thinning a semiconductor substrate (10) and processing the thinned region (30) on two sides to form the detector device. The semiconductor substrate (10) is thinned to form a cavity (26) in the substrate (10). Further processing on both sides of the thinned region (30) is performed while the thinned region is still connected to the thicker substrate. The thinned region (30) is then separated from the substrate (10) upon completion of the given processing steps. The device is then mounted to a readout device (58).