Title :
Robust Array-Composite Micromachined Thermopile IR Detector by CMOS Technology
Author :
Xu, Dehui ; Xiong, Bin ; Wang, Yuelin ; Li, Tie
Author_Institution :
State Key Lab. of Transducer Technol., Shanghai Inst. of Microsyst. & Inf. Technol., Shanghai, China
Abstract :
An improvement in mechanical stability and a reduction in time constant have been obtained over a traditional CMOS-compatible micromachined thermopile infrared detector. The single big thermopile (SBT) is replaced with a series-connected small thermopile array (STA). The small thermopile in array-composite structure is scaled down compared with the traditional SBT structure. Compared with SBT, STA shows a better compromise among mechanical stability, time constant, and sensitivity. Because of the small floating structure design, the STA detector only shows a one-fourth deflection as the SBT detector. In addition, the time constant of the STA detector is also much reduced due to the size effect, while sensitivity and detectivity for SBT and STA detectors are nearly the same.
Keywords :
CMOS integrated circuits; infrared detectors; mechanical stability; thermopiles; CMOS technology; array-composite structure; floating structure design; mechanical stability; robust array-composite micromachined thermopile IR detector; sensitivity; single big thermopile; small thermopile array; time constant; CMOS integrated circuits; Detectors; Etching; Morphology; Periodic structures; Sensitivity; Thermal stability; Array composite; CMOS; infrared detector; mechanical stability; micromachined thermopile;
Journal_Title :
Electron Device Letters, IEEE
DOI :
10.1109/LED.2011.2169037