Abstract
A new class of millimeter wave (mmW) imaging sensor using a phase-change material (PCM) microbolometer is designed and presented. In this approach, non-linear and large change in electrical resistivity of antenna-coupled vanadium dioxide (VO2) bolometer are exploited to achieve high responsivity, fast response time, and low noise equivalent power (NEP). The sensor is biased near the phase transition cliff temperature of 68 °C. Micro-electro-mechanical Systems (MEMS) microfabrication process is utilized to suspend the sensor in air to improve the thermal resistance and therefore overall performance of the sensor. Preliminary simulation results, together with analytical studies, demonstrate approximately 30 times improvement in responsivity (9.4×103 V/W) and 60% reduction in NEP (5.5 pW/√Hz) as compared to the state-of-the-art sensor. The corresponding rise time and fall time of the device are 6 μs and 35 μs, respectively. In the near future, a pixilated array of the proposed sensor enables the realization of highly sensitive mmW camera for variety of sensing applications.
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