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.     

微带阵列天线的时域散射特性

本文用时域有限差分方法(FDTD)研究了微带阵列天线的时域散射场,分析了入射脉冲极化方向不同以及入射方向不同时的散射场的分布情况;讨论了时域散射场的时域波形以及频谱与微带阵列天线结构的关系;用散射场分离算法讨论了地板对于微带贴片阵列散射场的影响.研究发现,有限大地板的微带阵列天线的散射场主要是由地板的边沿电流产生的,同时微带贴片阵列的谐振频率与入射脉冲的极化方向有关,因此不同的极化方向对应于不同的散射频谱. 关键词： 时域散射 微带天线 FDTD     

一种精确计算毫米波矩形微带天线贴片元物理尺寸的新方法

为了使矩形微带天线的实际谐振频率和设计频率相一致,矩形贴片元物理尺寸的精确计算是非常重要的。文中在腔模理论的基础上,计入辐射损耗,提出了一种精确计算毫米波矩形微带天线贴片元物理尺寸的新方法,并利用该方法计算设计了四元毫米波矩形微带贴片天线,仿真和实测结果证实了该方法的有效性。     

Theoretical study of two-element array of equilateral triangular patch microstrip antenna on ferrite substrate

The radiation characteristics of a two-element array of equilateral triangular patch microstrip antenna on a ferrite substrate are studied theoretically by considering the presence of bias magnetic field in the direction of propagation of electromagnetic waves. It is found that the natural modes of propagation in the direction of magnetic field are left- and right-circularly polarized waves and these modes have different propagation constants. In loss-less isotropic warm plasma, this array antenna geometry excites both electromagnetic (EM) and electroacoustic plasma (P) waves in addition to a nonradiating surface wave. In the absence of an external magnetic field, the EM- and P-waves can be decoupled into two independent modes, the electroacoustic mode is longitudinal while the electromagnetic mode is transverse. The far-zone EM-mode and P-mode radiation fields are derived using vector wave function techniques and pattern multiplication approaches. The results are obtained in both plasma medium and free space. Some important antenna parameters such as radiation conductance, directivity and quality factor are plotted for different values of plasma-to-source frequency.     

InAs/GaAs quantum dot infrared photodetectors with different growth temperatures

InAs/GaAs quantum dot infrared photodetectors were fabricated with quantum dots grown at three different temperatures. Large detection wavelength shift (5–14.5 μm) was demonstrated by changing 40 degrees of the epitaxy temperature. The smaller quantum dots grown at lower temperature generate 14.5 μm responses. The detectivity of the normal incident 15 μm QDIP at 77 K is 3 × 10⁸ cm Hz^1/2/W. A three-color detector was also demonstrated with quantum dots grown at medium temperature. The three-color detection comes from two groups of different sizes of dots within one QD layer. This new type of multicolor detector shows unique temperature tuning behavior that was never reported before.     

红外探测器成像实验研究

红外探测器广泛应用于多光谱成像系统中,文章提出并建立了一种红外线阵时间延迟积分探测器的成像实验系统,阐述了成像系统的工作原理,对影响成像质量的两个主要因素电子稳像与自动对焦进行了深入分析。利用高精度直流测速机确定了转台转速与探测器的行转移频率,采用卡尔曼滤波算法滤除了测速机带来的噪声,提高了速度匹配精度。在分析比较红外相机四种检焦方法的基础上采用视频信号幅度法进行检调焦。在国家光学机械产品质量监督检验测试中心实地搭建了成像实验系统,并分别对5.3,6.4和9.2mm宽度靶标成像。实验结果表明,采集到的原始靶标纹理清晰,照相分辨率达到了每毫米11.3对线,达到了实验预期目的。     

含有左手介质双层基底的亚波长谐振腔微带天线研究

将谐振腔引入微带结构,分析和设计了含有左手介质双层基底的亚波长谐振腔微带天线.基于左手介质对右手介质的相位补偿效应,此新型微带天线的高度并没有因为双层基底而大为增加,反而有所降低.计算表明：在一些情况下,大幅度提高的带宽特性突破了传统微带天线的窄带局限,而在另一些情况下,所得到窄带微带天线能够在单频率点谐振鉴频.针对这一特性,将亚波长谐振腔微带天线应用于探测器中,显示了此新型微带天线在目标探测上的优势. 关键词： 微带天线 左手介质 谐振腔     

Temperature dependent responsivity of quantum dot infrared photodetectors

Temperature dependent behavior of the responsivity of InAs/GaAs quantum dot infrared photodetectors was investigated with detailed measurement of the current gain. The current gain varied about two orders of magnitude with 100 K temperature change. Meanwhile, the change in quantum efficiency is within a factor of 10. The dramatic change of the current gain is explained by the repulsive coulomb potential of the extra carriers in the QDs. With the measured current gain, the extra carrier number in QDs was calculated. More than one electron per QD could be captured as the dark current increases at 150 K. The extra electrons in the QDs elevated the Fermi level and changed the quantum efficiency of the QDIPs. The temperature dependence of the responsivity was qualitatively explained with the extra electrons.     

The sub-monolayer quantum dot infrared photodetector revisited

The sub-monolayer quantum dot infrared photodetector (SML-QDIP) was proposed as an alternative to the standard QDIP based on Stranski–Krastanow (SK) quantum dots. Theoretical modeling indicates that the normal-incidence photo-response observed in the initial SML-QDIP devices, originally attributed to 3D quantum confinement effect, is most likely the result of optical cavity scattering. Modeling results also suggest candidate SML-QDIP structures with improved intrinsic normal incidence absorption.     

红外探测器封装技术

探讨了目前红外探测器的封装工艺,对红外探测器的机械连接、电连接、窗口气密性焊接、引线盘工艺、表面处理工艺这几个关键工艺技术进行了比较深入细致的分析,总结了影响探测器正常工作的主要因素。     

Thermophysics modeling of an infrared detector cryochamber for transient operational scenario

An infrared detector (IR) is essentially a transducer capable of converting radiant energy in the infrared regime into a measurable form. The benefit of infrared radiation is that it facilitates viewing objects in dark or through obscured conditions by detecting the infrared energy emitted by them. One of the most significant applications of IR detector systems is for target acquisition and tracking of projectile systems. IR detectors also find widespread applications in the industry and commercial market. The performance of infrared detector is sensitive to temperatures and performs best when cooled to cryogenic temperatures in the range of nearly 120 K. However, the necessity to operate in such cryogenic regimes increases the complexity in the application of IR detectors. This entails a need for detailed thermophysics analysis to be able to determine the actual cooling load specific to the application and also due to its interaction with the environment. This will enable design of most appropriate cooling methodologies suitable for specific scenarios. The focus of the present work is to develop a robust thermo-physical numerical methodology for predicting IR cryochamber behavior under transient conditions, which is the most critical scenario, taking into account all relevant heat loads including radiation in its original form. The advantage of the developed code against existing commercial software (COMSOL, ANSYS, etc.), is that it is capable of handling gas conduction together with radiation terms effectively, employing a ubiquitous software such as MATLAB. Also, it requires much smaller computational resources and is significantly less time intensive. It provides physically correct results enabling thermal characterization of cryochamber geometry in conjunction with appropriate cooling methodology. The code has been subsequently validated experimentally as the observed cooling characteristics are found to be in close agreement with the results predicted using the developed model thereby proving its efficacy.     

Terahertz planar antennas for future wireless communication: A technical review

With the monotonic increasing demand of the higher bandwidth for the next generation wireless communication system, the extension of the operating frequency of the communication system to the millimeter/Terahertz wave regime of the electromagnetic spectrum where several low-attenuation windows exist is inevitable. However, before the commercial implementation of the wireless communication in these low-attenuation windows, there are various obstacles which need to be addressed by the scientists and researchers. The atmospheric path loss is the main obstacle to the full-fledged implementation of the terahertz wireless communication. The remedy to this problem is the use of high-power sources, efficient detectors and high gain antenna systems. This paper reviews these technical issues with the special attention to the planar antennas which might contribute to the compact, inexpensive, and low profile future terahertz wireless communication system design.     

Optimum design of infrared detector's micro-cooler with entropy generation minimization

In this paper, an optimization of Joule-Thomson micro coolers, used in the infrared detector is performed based on minimization of irreversibility. These types of coolers have various applications in many industrial and non-industrial devices. One of the major applications of these coolers is the micro cooling system in infrared detectors. In this paper, the considerable cooling system is divided into some layer, include of the hot gas layer, cold gas layer, the buffer layer, top layer and upper layer and each layer divided into some cell. Then the energy balance (include of convective heat transfer and enthalpy flow) was applied to each cell and set of governed equations was solved with the suitable method. The comparison of the current study with experimental results shows the good accuracy of performing modeling. In the next section, irreversibility analysis was performed and the total entropy generation rate was evaluated. In the last section, optimization of the considered system is performed for minimizing of entropy generation and volume.     

Overcoming absorption saturation with doping in p-type quantum well infrared photodetectors: modeling and experiment

Bound-to-continuum normal-incidence absorption in p-type GaAs/AlGaAs quantum well infrared photodetectors (QWIPs) is strongest when the second light-hole (LH2) level is resonant with the top of the valence band QW. However, we found that such absorption saturates as a function of doping in the well. Using the envelope-function model (EFA), this paper shows that moving the LH2 resonance slightly deeper into the continuum avoids absorption saturation and produces optimal p-QWIP response. A suitable set of mid-IR samples was grown to test this conjecture and their photoresponse measured. The results indicate that absorption can be more than doubled through the use of the new p-QWIP designs. This result is explained by showing that the line of resonances in the continuum as a function of the in-plane wave vector eventually becomes a bound LH2 band in the well at some critical wave vector. Therefore, it is possible to avoid absorption saturation by matching this critical wave vector (i.e., well width and/or well depth) with the Fermi wave vector (i.e., doping in the well) for the desired QWIP (i.e., cutoff wavelength).     

The formula for computing the resonant wavelengths of composite microstrip antenna

The fundamental model resonant wavelength of a composite microstrip antenna is analyzed with Rayleigh-Rits method, the numberial examples are compared with experimental results, the measured data verify the theoretical values.     

Performance improvements of ultraviolet/infrared dual-band detectors

Results are reported on dual-band detectors based on a GaN/AlGaN structure operating in both the ultraviolet–midinfrared (UV–MIR) and ultraviolet–farinfrared (UV–FIR) regions. The UV detection is due to an interband process, while the MIR/FIR detection is from free carrier absorption in the emitter/contact followed by internal photoemission over the barrier at the GaN/AlGaN interface. The UV detection, which was observed from 300 K to 4.2 K, has a threshold of 360 nm with a peak responsivity of 0.6 mA/W at 300 K. The detector shows a free carrier IR response in the 3–7 μm range up to 120 K, and an impurity response around 54 μm up to 30 K. A response in the range 7–13 μm, which is tentatively assigned to transitions from C impurities and N vacancies in the barrier region, was also observed. It should also be possible to develop a detector operating in the UV–visible–IR regions by choosing the appropriate material system. A dual-band detector design, which allows not only to measure the two components of the photocurrent generated by UV and IR radiation simultaneously but also to optimize the UV and IR responses independently, is proposed.     

Potential application of antenna-pair coupled micro-bolometers in whole complex field sensing

This presentation explores potential application of antenna-pair coupled micro-bolometers in IR beam wavefront metrology. It describes an array configuration of such bolometers and a method for extracting a 1-D whole complex field information from its response. In addition, it discusses the requirements on the antenna-pair spacing and the spacing between the pair elements of the array configuration for extracting the complex field information. A numerical simulation based on the transmission line theory shows the effectiveness of such an array in recording the complex field spatial information of incident radiation; especially, it shows that the wavefront phase information can be extracted without the knowledge of the single antenna pattern. The discussions here should also be valid for antenna-pair coupled bolometers working at longer wavelengths.     

Wideband dipole antenna with inter-digital capacitor

A dipole antenna with wideband characteristics is presented. The proposed antenna consists of a dipole with periodic capacitive loading and a pair of coplanar striplines (CPSs) as an impedance transformer. By adding interlaced coupling lines at each section, periodic capacitive loading is realized. The periodic interlaced coupling lines divide each arm of the dipole into five sections, and currents are distributed on different sections at different frequencies, which is useful to achieve a wide impedance bandwidth. By parametric study using HFSS, the optimized parameters of this dipole antenna are obtained. In order to validate the simulation results, a prototype of the proposed dipole antenna is fabricated and tested. The results show that the proposed antenna can achieve a gain of 3.1 dB-5.1 dB and bandwidth of 51% for |S 11 | < 10 dB over the band of 3.9 GHz-6.6 GHz, indicating its good radiation performance and radiation efficiency.     

Fault detection of antenna arrays using infrared thermography

A fast and easy method for fault detection in antenna arrays using infrared thermography is presented. A thin, minimally perturbing, microwave absorption screen made of carbon loaded polymer is kept close in front of the faulty array. Electromagnetic waves falling on the screen increase its temperature. This temperature profile on the screen is identical to electric field intensity profile at the screen location. There is no temperature rise observed on the screen corresponding to non-radiating (faulty) elements and hence can be easily detected by IR thermography. The array input power is modulated at a low frequency which permits thermography to detect even weak fields. It also improves the resolution of thermal images. The power fed to the array is only 30 dBm. In order to show the utility of this technique, an example of 14 GHz 4 × 4 patch antenna array is given. The simulations are carried in CST Microwave Studio 2013. A good agreement between simulation and experimental results is observed.