PROCEEDINGS ARTICLE | January 24, 2008
Proc. SPIE. 6835, Infrared Materials, Devices, and Applications
KEYWORDS: Staring arrays, Amorphous silicon, Bolometers, Nonuniformity corrections, Thermography, Sensors, Infrared radiation, Analog electronics, Camera shutters, Temperature metrology
This paper reviews the specifications and performances of a 160 × 120 uncooled infrared focal plane array made from
amorphous silicon microbolometers with a pixel-pitch of 25 μm, integrated into a LCC TEC-less package. This detector
has been specifically designed for large volume production, while keeping the main features of high end developments,
at detection pixel level, as well as at ROIC level, like detector configuration by serial link in order to minimize the
number of electrical inputs, low power, large dynamic range...) The main particular features of this achievement are the
miniaturized very low weight package, along with easy TEC-less operation naturally afforded via the readout
architecture, which leads to very low consumption levels, making it well adapted to low end hand held or helmet
mounted thermal imaging cameras. We present in the last part of this paper the main electro-optical characteristics and
TEC-less operation, demonstrating wide thermal dynamic range and low power, thanks to the simple single-level
amorphous silicon technology, coupled with advanced ROIC design.
