abstract

• Antenna-coupled microbolometers have shown characteristics that makes them a promising option for fast-frame-rate infrared-imaging applications, however commercial application of these type of devices is only possible if a substantial increase in their responsivity is achieved. Due to the fabrication requirements of these detectors the process of optimizing them becomes extremely expensive and time consuming. In this paper a finite-element-based simulation approach to optimize the design of thermally isolated microbolometers is presented and the particular case of abowtie-coupled microbolometer on a silicon nitride membrane is analyzed. The thermal impedance simulations performed indicate that a responsivity increase of at least a factor of 6× can be obtained by optimizing the membrane shape and the materials used for the bias lines, this would lead to values of D* close to 1× 109 cm√Hz/W if applied to devices reported in the literature, which would close the gap between the responsivity of antenna-coupled detectors and detectors used in commercial infrared imaging systems.

authors

• González Contreras Francisco Javier

publication date

• 2006-01-01

funding provided via

• C04-FAI-04-11.13, PROMEP/103.5/04/1386  Grant
• Secretaría de Educación Pública, SEP  Grant

published in

• Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering  Proceedings

keywords

• Antenna-coupled detectors; Finite-element simulations; Microbolometers; Thermal modeling Antennas; Computer simulation; Finite element method; Imaging techniques; Optimization; Silicon nitride; Antenna-coupled detectors; Finite-element simulations; Microbolometers; Thermal modeling; Bolometers

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

• 10.1117/12.663439

start page

end page

volume

• 6206 I