Book excerpt: In two parts, this book describes the evolution of mercury cadmium telluride (HgCdTe) imager structures based upon published patents and patent applications. The first part covers monolithic arrays, and the second part describes hybrid arrays. Each part has 5 chapters, with each document placed in chronological order, with the documents with the earliest priority placed first. Focus has been directed at the steps of manufacturing and structures of imagers.There is an index at the end of the book containing the patent number, the name of the applicant and the date of publication of each cited document.This monograph will serve as a useful summary of the patents and patent applications in the field of mercury cadmium telluride imagers.