Black Silicon as Anti-Reflective Structure for Infrared Imaging Applications

Abstract

For uncooled infrared cameras based on microbolometers, silicon caps are often utilized to maintain a vacuum inside the packaged bolometer array. To reduce Fresnel reflection losses, anti-reflection coatings are typically applied on both sides of the silicon caps.This work investigates whether black silicon may be used as an alternative to conventional anti-reflective coatings. Reactive ion etching was used to etch the black silicon layer and deep cavities in silicon. The effects of the processed surfaces on optical transmission and image quality were investigated in detail by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and with modulated transfer function measurements. The results show that the etched surfaces enable similar transmission to the state-of-the-artanti-reflection coatings in the 8–12 µm range and possibly obtain wider bandwidth transmission up to 24 µm. No degradation in image quality was found when using the processed wafers as windows. These results show that black silicon can be used as an effective anti-reflection layer on silicon caps used in the vacuum packaging of microbolometer arrays.

Absorption by a Layered Microbolometer Pixel’s Active Element

“…Recent work has focused on enhancing the absorption capability of microbolometer pixel elements. An interesting study [7] explores the potential of using black silicon as an alternative anti-reflection layer for uncooled infrared cameras based on microbolometers. Typically, these cameras employ silicon caps with anti-reflection coatings to minimize Fresnel reflection losses and maintain a vacuum inside the bolometer array.…”