Electron emission type infrared imaging sensor using ferroelectric thin plate

Abstract

We propose a novel electron emission type infrared light sensor, which is constructed with a PZT ceramics plate and an Al electrode. A quartz plate separated the Al electrode and a PZT plate. The distance between the Al electrode and the PZT plate kept about 10µm. The PZT plate acts as an infrared light detector and a cathode electrode. The Al electrode is an anode. As the PZT plate was irradiated by infrared light in a vacuum chamber, an anode current was observed, and the anode current was lineally proportional to the incident infrared light power. From these fundamental experiments, the principle of this sensor was confirmed. Using this principle, we fabricated prototype infrared imager. This imager was constructed with the PZT photocathode, a multichannel plate and a fluorescent substrate. An infrared light source was successively taken by this imager.