MEMS-Based Wavelength-Selective Bolometers.

Thang Duy Dao,Takahiro Yokoyama,Yoshiki Wada,Dang Hai Ngo,Akihiko Ohi,Tomoko Ohki,Chisato Niikura,Anh Tung Doan,Satoshi Ishii,Handegård Sele Ørjan,Toshihide Nabatame,Tadaaki Nagao,Shinsuke Miyajima

doi:10.3390/mi10060416

Thang Duy Dao, Takahiro Yokoyama + Show 11 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/mi10060416

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Abstract

We propose and experimentally demonstrate a compact design for membrane-supported wavelength-selective infrared (IR) bolometers. The proposed bolometer device is composed of wavelength-selective absorbers functioning as the efficient spectroscopic IR light-to-heat transducers that make the amorphous silicon (a-Si) bolometers respond at the desired resonance wavelengths. The proposed devices with specific resonances are first numerically simulated to obtain the optimal geometrical parameters and then experimentally realized. The fabricated devices exhibit a wide resonance tunability in the mid-wavelength IR atmospheric window by changing the size of the resonator of the devices. The measured spectral response of the fabricated device wholly follows the pre-designed resonance, which obviously evidences that the concept of the proposed wavelength-selective IR bolometers is realizable. The results obtained in this work provide a new solution for on-chip MEMS-based wavelength-selective a-Si bolometers for practical applications in IR spectroscopic devices.

Highlights

Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS, known as micromachines) technology has been rapidly growing since the 1970s and early 1980s owing to its versatile application in a broad range of devices such as sensors, actuators, micropower generators and microfluidic systems [1,2,3,4,5,6]
We have successfully demonstrated a design for the MEMS-based wavelength-selective bolometers
The device used amorphous silicon (a-Si) film deposited by DC sputtering at room temperature as the bolometer material

Summary

Introduction

Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS, known as micromachines) technology has been rapidly growing since the 1970s and early 1980s owing to its versatile application in a broad range of devices such as sensors, actuators, micropower generators and microfluidic systems [1,2,3,4,5,6]. Merging photonic or metamaterial structures with MEMS has enabled a branch of micromachine system for optics and photonics which is so-called micro-optoelectro-mechanical systems (MOEMS) [7]. MOEMS have had a significant impact in optoelectronics ranging from lighting devices to imaging devices, especially in spectroscopic sensing devices such as wavelength selective infrared (IR) sensors and thermography [8,9]. A-Si has shown great compatibility with the complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) and MEMS technologies [17,19,20]

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