A novel substrate-free uncooled IR detector based on an optical-readable method is presented and fabricated successfully. The detector is composed of a bi-material (BM) cantilever array, without a silicon substrate, which is eliminated in the fabrication process. Compared with the generally used sacrificial layer cantilever, the loss of incident IR energy caused by the reflection from and absorption by the silicon substrate is eliminated completely in the substrate-free structure. The IR radiation reaching the IR detector surface increases by over 80% in the case of the novel substrate-free detector array structure, compared to the sacrificial layer structure. Moreover, the substrate-free structure has less heat loss than the sacrificial layer structure. The results of thermal imaging of the human body show the detector is able to sense objects at room temperature. The experimental NETD was estimated to be 200 mK.

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