Performance and applications of uncooled focal plane arrays

Abstract

The uncooled focal plane arrays (UFPA) technology has been developing rapidly in recent years. The initial uncooled infrared imaging arrays were acquired by Raytheon in the late 1970s. And many organizations worldwide have entered the field, especially in the U.S. and in the U.K. For performance and cost concerns, the UFPA has been used in many fields for certain applications. In this paper, the UFPA is presented by the performance parameters of UFPA such as the responsivity, noise equivalent power, detectivity, noise equivalent temperature difference (NETD), minimum resolvable temperature difference (MRTD), and thermal response time, which are used to describe its performance. With the help of the performance parameters, we can analyze the UFPA performance systemically. Moreover, the introduction of UFPA overseas applications is also included in the paper. After comparing the types and the performance of the UFPA, some opinions are given at the end of the paper. With the developing of the infrared technology, the applications of micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) and the micro-scanning systems had a tremendous growth. Among the possible advantages of MEMS and the micro-scanning systems compared to their classical counterparts, we can mention: cost and size reduction, increased reliability, less material used, low power, and high performance. Therefore, the paper has special practical contribution to demonstrating the applications of UFPA.© (2006) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.