Lecture #18

Basic Intent
This lecture will focus on several recently developed technologies for Infrared Sensing.
Modern thermal infrared detectors
In recent years, the DOD has invested a great deal of R+D funds into detection techniques which
allow long-wave detection fro uncooled platfors. !n additional focus of this wor" has #een
techniques which are copati#le with the foration of dense arrays. One interesting device
which has eerged due to this investent has #een the $ncooled Detector arrays ade #y
%oneywell.
These detectors are #ased on the siplest theral design - a resistance theroeter. &hat is
novel a#out this device is that it co#ines the #est icrofa#rication technology with good
theroeter technology and electronics integration.
Fig. 1: Microbolometer
! drawing of the icro#oloeter is shown in 'ig. (. The #asic idea is to use silicon
icrofa#rication techniques )li"e those in the !D*+,- acceleroeter. to a"e an isolated
theral structure with very little heat capacity. !s we saw in the theroeter lecture, the
theral infrared detector is iproved #y inii/ing the heat capacity.
In the final device, a fla"e of silicon nitride with diensions of ,- u 0 ,- u 0 -., u is
floated a#ove a silicon su#strate. This fla"e is supported #y a pair of legs, and is coated with a
resistive aterial with a good theral coefficient of resistance. $nderneath the fla"e is a
transistor which is used to connect the current-easuring circuit to the device using a
conventional row-colun addressing technique. The device currents are passed out to a
processing circuit on the perieter of the device #y the 0 and y etal leads.
In this device, uch research went into developing a technique for depositing the nitride on top
of a transistor, for releasing the devices with very high yield, and for o#taining a sensitive
theroeter in the for of a deposited etal fil. This resistor is ade fro vanadiu o0ide,
which offers a T1R of a#out (2 near roo teperature. The resistance change is a result of a
structural phase transition in vanadiu o0ide a#ove roo teperature, so this device ust #e
held near roo teperature to allow operation with good sensitivity.
%aving developed this technology, %oneywell has gone on to a"e dense arrays )3--03--., and
to continue optii/ing the perforance of the devices. In the last couple of years, a coplete
caera syste has #een deonstrated. This #ase technology has #een offered for licensing, and
is presently #eing coerciali/ed #y several anufacturers of infrared iaging systes.
This device does not out-perfor the 41T iager, #ut it does ena#le operation at roo
teperature, and ight #e availa#le at low cost with further developent.
Fig. 2: Simplified Model of a !roelectric "ffect
!nother very iportant technology for low-cost uncooled infrared detectors has eerged in
recent years in the for of pyroelectric plastic aterial. 56D' is a pyroelectric aterial that is a
decent theroeter. !nalogous to pie/oelectricity and strain, pyroelectricity is a phenoena in
which a change in teperature causes theral e0pansion, which causes the appearance of charge
)through the pie/oelectric effect..
Infrared detectors have #een availa#le for any years #ased on other speciali/ed pie/oelectric
aterials. The #est of the is Deuterated Tri-7lycine 1ulfide )DT7S.. This very e0pensive
aterial offers the #est pyroelectric coefficients, and is coonly used for IR detection in
la#oratory spectroeters, and in early otion detection systes.
! variety of other pyroelectric aterials are also availa#le - it is generally true that any aterial
which is pie/oelectric is also pyroelectric. There are any applications which need good
perforance )la# spectroscopy, for e0aple., and these applications generally 8ustify use of the
#est aterial availa#le.
On the other hand, there are other applications in which the #est detector perforance is not
required. In these applications, 56D' fil has #ecoe the #est choice availa#le - priarily due
to the treendously low cost of the device aterial.
! good e0aple of a low-perforance application is an infrared otion detector. 9owadays, it is
coon to offer #ac"yard lighting systes or door opening systes which detect the presence
of a oving o#8ect with elevated infrared eission. If you wave your hand a#out, the infrared
scene that can #e detected features a variation in the infrared signal to soe pi0el of an iaging
syste. So what is needed is an array of detector eleents and soe sort of focused optics.
&ithout the focused optics, oving your hand a#out does not produce a change in the total
illuination- and would not produce a varia#le signal.
Ree#er that the pyroelectric detectors do not detect heat - only changes in heat.
So, it has #ecoe coon to pac"age a 56D' detector array in a low-cost optical pac"age
which uses a Teflon lens to focus the light. Teflon lens aterial is also ine0pensive, and is
transissive enough in the IR that is does a decent 8o#.
Typical Teflon lenses used in otion detection systes are ade with a surface te0ture that
includes several circular #ups. These #ups act as focusing lenses, and will #ring light fro a
particular part of the scene to the detector. !s a war o#8ect oves through the scene, radiation
is occasionally focused on the detector, causing a transient in signal which is detected.
Fig. #: $ Facet Lens
! good illustration of this concept is shown in 'ig. : )fro the #oo".. !s the ;person< oves
across the scene, the array of lenses produces an oscillating illuination on the detector. The
device itself is a sall )( . piece of 56D' ounted in a transistor can. ! thin etal electrode
on the upper surface of the fil is grounded to the can, and a thic" electrode on the lower surface
is connected to an e0ternal charge aplification circuit.
! typical otion detector allows the setting of a ;threshold<, which is siply an electrical
threshold in the detection circuit, and an output voltage which indicates the threshold has #een
crossed recently. $sually, you can also set the duration of illuination after a detection event.
4any such products are now availa#le on the ar"et. I #ought a otion detection light fi0ture at
hoe depot recently which included the detector and circuit, light ount #rac"et, soc"ets for two
#ul#s, and 3 #ul#s, all for 3=.>>. 1learly, this detector is ine0pensive?
This syste is set up for deonstration during the lecture, and we can see that, after a #rief
war-up period, it is very difficult to approach the sensor without triggering the circuit, yet the
circuit does not false-trigger.
So, there has #een a recent su#stantial iproveent in the availa#ility of cruy, #ut
ine0pensive IR sensors, and a faily of decent devices for iaging systes are eerging. @oth
of these devices will represent opportunities for new products, and should #e watched closely.