Commercial CMOS fabricated integrated dynamic thermal scene simulator

The authors report a prototype integrated dynamic thermal scene simulator chip, consisting of a 2*2 array of integrated thermal pixels. The chips were fabricated using commercial CMOS processes. The micromachining process needed to create the thermally isolated structure is introduced as a maskless postprocessing step. The thermal pixel and the control electronics are designed as a module for an easy implementation of the array. Test results indicate that the pixels have a thermal time constant of 5 ms and are capable of producing an infrared output of apparent radiometric temperatures in excess of 600 degrees C and color temperatures of at least 500 degrees C. The control electronics is capable of switching within 900 ns, enabling the addressing of multiple pixels within the 200 Hz frame time required for a typical dynamic thermal scene simulation.<>