Low-cost mid-wave IR microsatellite imager concept based on uncooled technology

Oelrich, Brian D.; Crastes, A.; Underwood, Craig; Mackin, Stephen

doi:10.1117/12.565554

Cited by 8 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…Extrapolation result Responsivity between 400°C and 500°C 45 mV/K 66 mV/K 31 mV/K For some applications, we have to be able to detect a hot spot in a background environment at 20°C, for example in aerial observation such as fire detection from satellites 3 . In this case, the signal to noise ratio is very high because the response is measured between 20°C and high temperature (i.e.450°C).…”

Section: -5 µM Band Pass Filtermentioning

confidence: 99%

Uncooled microbolometer detector: recent developments at ULIS

Tissot¹,

Legras²,

Trouilleau³

et al. 2005

Electro-Optical and Infrared Systems: Technology and Applications II

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Uncooled infrared focal plane arrays are being developed for a wide range of thermal imaging applications. Firefighting, predictive maintenance, process control and thermography are a few of the industrial applications which could take benefit from uncooled infrared detector. Therefore, to answer these markets, a 35 µm pixel-pitch uncooled IR detector technology has been developed enabling high performance 160 x 120 and 384 x 288 arrays production. Besides a wide-band version from uncooled 320 x 240 / 45 µm array has been also developed in order to address process control and more precisely industrial furnaces control. The ULIS amorphous silicon technology is well adapted to manufacture low cost detector in mass production. After some brief microbolometer technological background, we present the characterization of 35 µm pixel-pitch detector as well as the wide-band 320 x 240 infrared focal plane arrays with a pixel pitch of 45 µm. INTRODUCTIONUncooled infrared detectors are now available for various applications. Their simple operating conditions are similar to those of digital CMOS Active Pixel Sensors (APS) used in some digital cameras. They have already shown their potentiality to fulfill many commercial and military applications. One of the key parameters is the low cost achievable with uncooled detectors compared to cooled quantum detectors. Cooled detectors are designed for high performance systems and uncooled detectors are designed for low cost systems and mass production.This paper describes the advantages of the amorphous silicon technology, the characterization of wide-band 320 x 240 uncooled detectors and the characterization of the 35 µm pixel-pitch detectors. This paper will also look at some mass production results of 35 µm pixel-pitch detectors. Finally, a short presentation of the next bolometer generation (wideband and pixel pitch of 25 µm) concludes the discussion. BACKGROUNDThe bolometer is composed of a thermometer 1 integrated on a micro-bridge. This micro-bridge is supported by two legs anchored over the silicon substrate by metal studs. This micro-bridge is built on a sacrificial layer which is removed in a final step. The micro-bridge is only 0.1µm thick of doped amorphous silicon and the distance between the ROIC and the micro-bridge is 2.5 µm (see figure 1). This vacuum gap works as a quarter wavelength cavity, which sets the detector spectral response maximum at a wavelength close to 10µm. However, the measured response is still substantial in the 3 to 5µm range as shown in the following paragraphs. Figure 1: Bolometer pixel structure Electro-Optical and Infrared Systems: Technology and Applications II, edited

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Section: -5 µM Band Pass Filtermentioning

confidence: 99%

Uncooled microbolometer detector: recent developments at ULIS

Tissot¹,

Legras²,

Trouilleau³

et al. 2005

Electro-Optical and Infrared Systems: Technology and Applications II

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…As for the detector, uncooled detector has the advantages of having no use for refrigerating plants, the stop position unlimited, low power, light weight, small size, and good reliability, etc. So the uncooled detector could be used in this optical system to provide the possibility of designing and manufacturing the low-cost infrared target detector [5] . The optical system design need meet new demands at the same time.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design of Athermalized Infrared Telephoto Lens

Zhang

Shang

et al. 2013

KEM

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IR optical system is much more appropriate to be applied in cluttered and formidable conditions. The change of temperature could degrade image quality of the infrared optical system. So the athermalization becomes the difficult part and key factor in the designing of MWIR optical systems for working under temperature range of -40°C~60°C. In this paper, the infrared telephoto lens is designed; it meets the designing requirements and has good image quality. The effective focal length is 240mm and the F-number is 2.The full field of view is 3.2°. In order to balance the chromatic aberration, an aspherical surface is used in the athermalized infrared optical system. Through carefully selected optical material and reasonable optical power distribution, passive optical athermalization can be realized. The curve of MTF is close to diffraction limit. Within the working temperature, the value of MTF at 30cy/mm is always large than 0.6. The results show that the modulation transfer function (MTF) of optical system in all field of view approaches the diffraction limit at different temperature, and 80% energy concentrates in 1 pixel.

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“…Table 4 summarizes all the results and points out that the responsivity will be close to 45 mV/K @f/1 for 450°C temperature scene and 30 mV/K with additional 3-5 µm filter. For some applications, we have to be able to detect a hot spot in a background environment at 20°C, for example in aerial observation such as fire detection from satellites [5]. In this case, the signal to noise ratio is very high because the response is measured between 20°C and high temperature (i.e., 450°C).…”

Section: Electro Optical Characterizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Uncooled microbolometer detector: recent developments at ULIS

Tissot¹,

Trouilleau²,

Fièque³

et al. 2006

Opto-Electronics Review

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Uncooled infrared focal plane arrays are being developed for a wide range of thermal imaging applications. Fire-fighting, predictive maintenance, process control and thermography are a few of the industrial applications which could take benefit from uncooled infrared detector. Therefore, to answer these markets, a 35-μm pixel-pitch uncooled IR detector technology has been developed enabling high performance 160×120 and 384×288 arrays production. Besides a wide-band version from uncooled 320×240/45 μm array has been also developed in order to address process control and more precisely industrial furnaces control. The ULIS amorphous silicon technology is well adapted to manufacture low cost detector in mass production. After some brief microbolometer technological background, we present the characterization of 35 μm pixel-pitch detector as well as the wide-band 320×240 infrared focal plane arrays with a pixel pitch of 45 μm.

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Low-cost mid-wave IR microsatellite imager concept based on uncooled technology

Abstract: Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information.

Cited by 8 publications

References 3 publications

Uncooled microbolometer detector: recent developments at ULIS

Uncooled microbolometer detector: recent developments at ULIS

Design of Athermalized Infrared Telephoto Lens

Uncooled microbolometer detector: recent developments at ULIS

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