Thermal and mechanical characterizations of asubstrate-free focal plane array

We propose a substrate-free focal plane array (FPA) in this paper. The solid substrate is completely removed, and the microcantilevers extend from a supporting frame. Using finite element analysis, the thermal and mechanical characterizations of the substrate-free FPA are presented. Because of the large decrease in thermal conductance, the supporting frame is temperature dependent, which brings out a unique feature: the lower the thermal conductance of the supporting frame is, the higher the energy conversion efficiency in the substrate-free FPA will be. The results from the finite element analyses are consistent with our measurements: two types of substrate-free FPAs with pixel sizes of 200× 200 and 60× 60~μ m² are implemented in the proposed infrared detector. The noise equivalent temperature difference (NETD) values are experimentally measured to be 520 and 300~mK respectively. Further refinements are considered in various aspects, and the substrate-free FPA with a pixel size of 30× 30~μ m² has a potential of achieving an NETD value of 10~mK.     

大面阵非制冷红外热像仪的噪声等效温差精度分析

分析了采用脉冲偏置电压读出电路的大面阵(320×240)凝视型非制冷焦平面的原理。根据处于脉冲偏置的红外热像仪噪声等效温差的表达式,分析了影响噪声等效温差的几个因素。数值计算表明:脉冲偏置时非制冷焦平面温度升高带来的误差,是影响热像仪噪声等效温差精度的主要因素。     

低噪声红外辐射计设计

为解决热像仪测试设备校准问题,设计了内部参考黑体温度与环境温度相等的红外辐射计。为评估精密红外辐射计的性能指标,指导精密红外辐射计的设计,建立了红外辐射计NETD (噪声等效温差,Noise equivalent temperature difference)数学模型。估算了在不同电子带宽、光谱波段下红外辐射计的NETD。结果表明,当噪声带宽小于1 Hz时,红外辐射计自身的NETD在MWIR(mid-wavelength infrared )、LWIR(long wavelength infrared)波段均小于0.01℃,能够满足热像仪测试设备校准需要。     

红外成像系统NETD参数测试算法及应用研究

噪声等效温差(NETD)是表征红外成像系统灵敏度的关键参数,也是评估红外成像系统性能的重要参数之一,应用广泛。通过对红外成像系统3D噪声、信号传递函数(SiTF)、NETD等参数测试方法、算法和流程研究,给出一种基于视频文件的3D噪声离线对比测试方法和一种SiTF线性区自动判断计算斜率算法,在此基础上针对某型技术保障装备国产化光电检测平台开发了配套应用软件功能模块。实现了通过计算单位均方根噪声所对应的SiTF斜率值,分析得出系统NETD参数值的功能。以某型热像仪为被测对象,开展了测试结果重复性和一致性试验,并与美国Optikos公司I-SITE红外整机测试系统进行了对比测试。实验结果表明开发的NETD参数测试功能模块测试精度和重复性满足设计要求,具有较高实用价值,已进行了工程应用。     

激光干扰红外成像系统的噪声等效温差及信噪比分析

噪声等效温差(NETD)和信噪比(SNR)是衡量红外成像系统性能的重要指标之一,它与探测器的多种性能参数有关。分析了激光辐照干扰红外探测系统及不同材料类型红外探测器性能参数变化。通过理论定量计算分析,比对YAG激光(波长1.06 μm)干扰前后系统噪声等效温差、信噪比曲线,得到了激光损伤后的NETD比损伤前NETD大2至3个数量级,同时,激光干扰后的信噪比相对激光干扰前信噪比小2个多数量级,进一步推导出激光干扰对红外探测系统的影响。     

Resonance method for IR sensing

A highly sensitive method for infrared radiation detection based on thermal resonance in an active bolometer is set forth. An active bolometer is a self-oscillating system consisting of an IR-sensitive cell in a feedback circuit of an adjustable proportional controller. The analysis of an active bolometer autonomous (dark) dynamics reveals that with a generalized gain factor A variation the system evolves from relaxation type towards oscillating and self-oscillating type. When A=A_c, where A_c is a critical value of the generalized gain factor A, the steady state loses stability through self-excited thermal oscillations. The resonance in a system weakly perturbed by IR radiation modulated at self-oscillation frequency q₀[1+exp(iω_ct)] is considered. It is shown that in a small precritical vicinity =(A−A_c)/A_c of the gain factor the amplitude of forced thermal oscillations is proportional to q₀/A_c. The D^* calculation reveals that the detection power of a passive (A=0) bolometer increases with feedback introduction by a factor of 1/||. The detection powers of feasible versions of an active bolometer are compared.     

热像仪空间NETD测量技术

凝视阵列型热像仪的空间噪声制约着热像仪对远距离目标的探测、分辨、跟踪性能。为解决热像仪空间噪声实际测量问题,分析了热像仪的空间噪声测量原理,给出了热像仪基于信号传递函数的空间噪声测量数学模型,介绍了热像仪某一组、某一区域或全部像素如何剔除时间域NETD,再通过统计计算得到其空间NETD的数学模型。对制冷型MCT320256凝视列阵热像仪的SiTF和空间NETD进行测量,当背景黑体温度为5 ℃时,FOV区域中心信号传递函数（SiTF）为27.29 mV/℃,NETD为0.128 ℃,20 ℃时FOV区域中心SiTF为29.03 ℃,NETD为0.121 ℃。测量结果表明:该方法可评估空间噪声对热像仪性能的影响。     

扫描热成像系统NETD数学模型的研究

讨论了最近几十年发展起来的最具代表性的10种NETD模型的优缺点．在对它们进行综合分析的基础上建立起了新的适用于扫描热成像系统的NETD数学模型，得到的模型消除了光学系统大的f／#影响，增加了两个可供选择的光谱滤波函数，并考虑了占空比在模型中的影响．建立起的模型能客观全面地用于热成像系统温度灵敏度的性能评价。     

An all-ZnO microbolometer for infrared imaging

Microbolometers are extensively used for uncooled infrared imaging applications. These imaging units generally employ vanadium oxide or amorphous silicon as the active layer and silicon nitride as the absorber layer. However, using different materials for active and absorber layers increases the fabrication and integration complexity of the pixel structure. In order to reduce fabrication steps and therefore increase the yield and reduce the cost of the imaging arrays, a single layer can be employed both as the absorber and the active material. In this paper, we propose an all-ZnO microbolometer, where atomic layer deposition grown zinc oxide is employed both as the absorber and the active material. Optical constants of ZnO are measured and fed into finite-difference-time-domain simulations where absorption performances of microbolometers with different gap size and ZnO film thicknesses are extracted. Using the results of these optical simulations, thermal simulations are conducted using finite-element-method in order to extract the noise equivalent temperature difference (NETD) and thermal time constant values of several bolometer structures with different gap sizes, arm and film thicknesses. It is shown that the maximum performance of 171 mK can be achieved with a body thickness of 1.1 μm and arm thickness of 50 nm, while the fastest response with a time constant of 0.32 ms can be achieved with a ZnO thickness of 150 nm both in arms and body.     

近高超声速高温蓝宝石窗口下中波红外成像退化分析仿真与性能测试实验

本文基于高温红外窗口热辐射红外成像探测器干扰机理,开展高温红外窗口成像分析、仿真与实验验证研究工作. 根据流体仿真计算获得的高温窗口温度及实验测得的窗口发射率、吸收率等参数,开展窗口热辐射计算;建立了光学窗口介质内部辐射传输路径和强度计算模型,并给出了窗口辐射出射模型以及相应红外成像模型;基于光学追迹方法,把窗口热辐射成像的计算问题转换成了光学计算问题;设计了一种基于高温蓝宝石红外窗口的加热实验,对红外成像仿真结果进行了检验. 通过仿真结果与窗口加热实验结果对照,将基于模型分析获取图像与实验结果图像作差,得到的平均每个像素误差值为0.45;实验发现在窗口约773 K条件下,设计的中波红外成像系统的信噪比、对比度分别降低到原来三分之一左右,而整个红外成像系统NETD值由原来的约52 mK上升到了954 mK. 本文提出的窗口热辐射分析方法可以有效估计窗口热辐射对中波红外成像的影响,设计的实验对成像系统的指标验证有较好的用途,同时对红外成像系统波段细化优选和成像参数调整,降低图像退化程度,都有着重要的指导意义. 关键词： 近高超声速 高温蓝宝石窗口 气动效应 仿真与实验     

对各种红外系统的灵敏度方程的修正

当目标为灰体时,尤其是目标温度与环境物体的温度相近时,必须同时考虑目标的自身辐射和它对环境辐射的反射。这样,各种红外系统的灵敏度方程就需要修正。根据这些修正后的方程,就可以解释原来只考虑自身辐射的方程所无法解释的实验现象。其中,对于热成象系统,我们作了重点讨论,不但考虑了场景中相邻单元的温差、比辐射率差和反射率差的影响,而且考虑了扫描效率、扫描重迭率、串联或并联列阵元件、加场镜或浸没透镜等的影响,得到比较完整的灵敏度方程和噪声等效温差NETD的表达式。对于NETD中的积分X_T的计算方法,我们也作了介绍并给出数值表。 关键词：     

光学读出微梁阵列红外成像及性能分析

在构建的光学读出微梁阵列(焦平面阵列FPA)非制冷红外成像系统中，实现了无硅基底FPA置于空气中对人体的热成像. 通过FPA在不同真空度环境条件下的成像结果进行比较，分析了热导和系统噪声值随气压变化的关系，以及对系统成像性能的影响，并对气体分子热运动自由程大于空气传热层特征尺度时的气体热传导模型进行了修正分析和实验验证. 实验结果表明：FPA置于空气中时，气体分子撞击微梁引起的微梁反光板无序振动产生的光学读出噪声成为系统噪声的主要来源. 当真空度小于1Pa时，总热导和光学读出噪声值的变化都趋于平缓；当真空度小于10^-2Pa时，空气热导的影响可忽略，总热导降低到微梁感热像素的辐射极限，光学读出噪声也降低到一极小值. 实验结果与理论分析相符合. 关键词： 非制冷红外成像 光学读出 双材料微梁阵列 热导     

Modelled V-I Performance of A 3HE Composite Bolometer Detector

The V-I characteristics of a ³He-cooled, composite bolometer detector designed for submillimetre astronomy are modelled. The modelling yields detector parameters that cannot be measured directly. The system NEP predicted from theoretical V-I equations is found to agree with the measured noise values. The calculated dynamic thermal conductance and the electrical responsivity are found to deviate from the standard model at low temperatures.     

导弹特种车辆行驶操稳性测量系统设计

针对红外热像仪性能检测设备国产化的紧迫需求,设计了检测样机的电路系统。根据红外检测的设计指标要求,提出了测控系统的总体方案,详细介绍了检测系统的硬件电路设计,阐述了红外系统MRTD、NETD等关键指标的测试算法,给出了电路检测软件和维修指导软件的设计方法。实验测试表明,该检测系统电路达到了设计指标要求,已应用于某小型红外系统检测诊断设备中。     

Modelling of thermal conductance during microthermal machining with scanning thermal microscope using an inverse methodology

In this study, a general methodology for determining the thermal conductance between the probe tip and the workpiece during microthermal machining using Scanning Thermal Microscopy (SThM) has been proposed. The processing system was considered as an inverse heat conduction problem with an unknown thermal conductance. Temperature dependence for the material properties and thermal conductance in the analysis of heat conduction is taken into account. The conjugate gradient method is used to solve the inverse problem. Furthermore, this methodology can also be applied to estimate the thermal contact conductance in other transient heat conduction problems, like metal casting process, injection molding process, and electronic circuit systems.     

Analysis of point-target detection performance based on ATF and TSF

In many real applications such as remote sensing and space surveillance, traditional method based on ideal imaging has already been well-established. It is widely applied to analyze point-target detection performance of electro-optical imaging system, including signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and noise equivalent temperature difference (NETD). However, this method cannot accurately predict these performance parameters, as it fails to take into account the influence of optical blurring caused by atmospheric turbulence, optics diffraction, optical aberrations, etc. In this sense, the methods, if proposed to thoroughly incorporate degrading factors into object acquisition model, would succeed to describe point-target detection performance to more degree of accuracy. The main focus of this article is to quantitatively analyze the influence of optical blurs upon point-target detection, and to establish close relationship between optical blurring and metrics of point-target acquisition. This point can be interpreted and achieved mathematically: the mathematical analysis based on image acquisition model is to combine Aperiodic Transfer Function (ATF) and Target Size Function (TSF) with analysis of SNR and NETD. In addition, the concept of NETD, traditionally used to describe extended object detection, is generalized and equivalently applied to analyze point-target detection. This refined method can be directly and conveniently used for faithfully predicting detection performance, and provides a more reliable benchmark for improving measurement setup, if we properly estimate the degree of image distortion.     

A novel infrared absorbing structure for uncooled infrared detector

In this paper, we proposed a novel infrared absorbing structure for uncooled infrared detectors. The infrared absorber makes use of a quarter-wavelength structure composed of a dielectric layer, a protecting layer, an active layer, a supporting layer and a reflecting layer. Sputtered amorphous silicon is used as a dielectric layer because of its high refractive index. We fabricated the uncooled microbolometer with the proposed infrared absorbing structure by surface micromachining method. Then we characterized various bolometric properties such as thermal conductance, thermal time constant, responsivity and infrared absorptance. The fabricated bolometer showed the thermal conductance of 6.72 × 10⁻⁷ W/K, the thermal mass of 4.43 × 10⁻⁹ J/K, the thermal time constant of 6.6 ms and the responsivity of 7.76 × 10³ V/W at 10 Hz chopper frequency and 9.22 μA bias current. From the results, the estimated absorptance is about 80%. We expect that the proposed absorbing structure shows high infrared absorption and high performance of uncooled microbolometer.     

Thermal Behavior of Amorphous Silicon Thin Film Transistor and Its Application to Micromachined Uncooled Infrared Sensors

This work reports a new uncooled infrared sensor based on amorphous silicon thin film transistors (a-Si TFTs). The temperature coefficient of channel current (TCC) of the a-Si TFT is given. Analysis shows that the a-Si TFT working in the saturation region is preferred for the sensitive element with a TCC value of 3.8-6.0 %/K. The a-Si TFT is placed on a suspended microbridge to reduce the thermal conductance by using micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) technology. The a-Si TFT-based IR sensor with a monolithic architecture is fabricated. Preliminary experimental results show that a responsivity of 40.8 kV/W, a thermal response time of 5.5 ms and a NETD of 90 mK are achieved.     

Metallic bolometers with temperature dependent thermal impedance

The paper gives the solution of a bolometer with thermal impedance, which is a general function of the temperature. The general solution is applied to a bolometer cooled by radiation for which the appropriate expressions fo the resistance, sensitivity and dynamic resistance are derived and the expression for the maximum sensitivity of this type of bolometers from nickel, platinum and electrolytical platinum is given. The case of a bolometer cooled by conduction through the air and radiation is solved as the case of a bolometer with several ways of cooling. The paper also gives a graphico-numerical method for determining all the important parameters of the bolometer from the measured dependence of the resistance on the electric power RI²; an example of the application of this method is given for a conduction and radiation cooled bolometer. Deviations from the theoretical course are explained by convection of heat caused by the flow of air along the bolometer due to the increase in temperature of the bolometer over that of its surroundings. The paper also gives the maximum attainable sensitivity of this type of bolometer and metallic bolometers in general.     

Numerical optimization of bolometric infrared detectors including optical loading, amplifier noise, and electrical nonlinearities

We present numerical methods for the optimization of bolometric infrared detectors which use current-biased semiconducting thermistors. We extend the analysis of Griffin and Holland to explicitly include both the electric field dependence of the thermistor resistance and amplifier noise. These methods allow the user to design and evaluate an optimized bolometer once such parameters as the optical loading, the heat sink temperature, and the materials for the thermal link and the thermistor have been chosen. Measured parameters which describe the electrical nonlinearities in neutron transmutation doped germanium are presented. The consequences for bolometer optimization of including these effects are illustrated. This program will be made available at the web site http://physics7.berkeley.edu/bolometer.html. This work was supported in part by the Director, Office of Energy Research, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Sciences Division of the U. S. Department of Energy under contract DE-AC03-76SF00098.