An infrared (IR) bolometer measures the change of resistance by absorbing incident IR radiation and generates a signal as a function of the radiation intensity. Since a bolometer requires temperature stabilization and light filtering except for the infrared rays, it is essential for the device to be packaged meeting conditions that above mentioned. Minimization of heat loss is needed in order to stabilize temperature of bolometer. Heat loss by conduction or convection requires a medium, so the heat loss will be minimized if the medium is a vacuum. Therefore, vacuum packaging for bolometer is necessary. Another important element in bolometer packaging is germanium (Ge) window, which transmits IR radiation to heat the bolometer. To ensure a complete transmittance of IR light, anti-reflection (AR) coatings are deposited on both sides of the window. Although the transmittance of Ge window is high for IR rays, it is difficult to use frequently in low-price IR bolometer because of its high price. In this paper, we fabricated IR window by utilizing silicon (Si) substrate instead of Ge in order to reduce the cost of bolometer packaging. To enhance the IR transmittance through Si substrate, it is textured using Reactive Ion Etching (RIE). The texturing process of Si substrate is performed along with the change of experimental conditions such as gas ratio, pressure, etching time and RF power. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License(http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/bync/3.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

A novel through silicon via (TSV) interconnector, which consists of tin (Sn) powder and single-walled nanotube (SWNT) powder, is proposed and characterized. Most conventional TSV structures, which are commercially available to integrate multiple chips on one packaging, utilize electroplated copper as the interconnector. However, the electroplating-based process has some drawbacks, such as highly demanding fabrication processes in high-aspect-ratio vias, numerous voids, and high cost. To avoid these issues, we used Sn powder mixed with SWNTs as TSV interconnector. SWNTs have been added to improve the electrical properties of TSVs filled only with Sn. The electrical resistance of Sn powderfilled TSVs is 44.59 Ω, but it is markedly decreased to 5 Ω when a Sn and SWNTs mixture (weight ratio of SWNTs : Sn ¼ 0:5 : 1) was used as the TSV interconnector. In addition, the proposed method could be used for various applications owing to its low process temperature.

Elemental analyses for detecting lowly concentrated elements at small volume such as interfaces and surface are very difficult due to the limitations of detection and analytical spot size. Through the analysis by atom probe tomography, we were able to confirm the distribution and concentration of the trace elements diffused into the passive layer of stainless steel and the thin film on SiC complementarily with x-ray photoelectron spectrometer, secondary ion mass spectrometer, and transmission electron microscopy.