Title :
Micromachined silicon thermopile and thermal radiators using porous silicon technology
Author :
Dobrzanski, L. ; Piotrowski, J.
Author_Institution :
Inst. of Electron. Mater. Technol., Warsaw, Poland
fDate :
10/1/1998 12:00:00 AM
Abstract :
A micromachined silicon thermopile and thermal emitters of infrared radiation have been developed. The thermopile junction materials were highly doped polycrystalline silicon deposited by PECVD or RF sputtering and aluminum metallisation. The hot junctions have been placed on a 0.5 μm thick membrane made of silicon nitride, and the cold junctions have been placed on a surface of monolithic silicon. Porous silicon has been used as a thick sacrificial layer to suspend the membrane over the cavity. Alternatively, nanoporous silicon has been exploited as the thermal insulation material. Similar methods have been used for fabrication of electrically modulated microemitters of infrared radiation. This technology enables cost-effective manufacturing of infrared thermal sensors, and high performance emitters
Keywords :
chemical vapour deposition; elemental semiconductors; infrared sources; metallisation; micromachining; porous materials; silicon; sputter deposition; thermopiles; 0.5 mum; PECVD; RF sputtering; Si; aluminum metallisation; cold junctions; cost-effective manufacturing; electrically modulated microemitters; high performance emitters; highly doped polycrystalline silicon; hot junctions; infrared radiation; infrared radiation emitters; infrared thermal sensors; micromachined silicon thermopile; monolithic silicon; nanoporous silicon; porous silicon technology; thermal insulation material; thermal radiators; thermopile junction materials; thick sacrificial layer;
Journal_Title :
Optoelectronics, IEE Proceedings -
DOI :
10.1049/ip-opt:19982301