Opportunities in uncooled infrared imaging: A MEMS perspective

Abstract

The applications for IR imaging have traditionally been aggressively pursued by military and homeland security organizations and have trickled down to other organizations such as search and rescue, firefighting, and law enforcement. As technologies become cheaper, a wider consumer market starts to open up including consumer security (e.g., parking lot security), sporting goods, home security, home heating/inspection markets, and automotive safety systems. For example, LWIR imaging systems have recently been offered on high-end BMW automobiles; however, the high cost of these systems still makes them a luxury option for car buyers and not profitable for the car companies.The military continues to explore imaging systems where performance criteria are the most important factors: pixel count, sensitivity, and response time. Lower cost technologies are necessary to pursue consumer applications and would also be useful in the military arena for more widespread deployment

Uncooled Focal Plane Array for Multiband IR Imaging Using Optical-Readout Bimaterial Cantilevers

“…In this case, the absorption is simplified to A =1-R, which can be derived from Eq. (1), (2) and (5) as (6) shown at the bottom of the page. where all the parameters have the same meaning as in the previous model in Fig.…”

“…Particularly among thermal detectors, bimaterial cantilever FPA offers many advantages like simple fabrication process, low cost, convenient optical readout method, as well as versatility for multiband applications [1], which is a highly favored feature for the third generation infrared detector arrays [2]. At present, multi-band IR imaging systems have almost been dominated by cooled photon imagers such as HgCdTe, InGaAsSb or Quantum Well (QW) detectors due to the convenience to control the cut-off wavelength, and by vertically integrating multiple detectors in one pixel, their response can be tailored for multi-band application [3], [4].…”