Thermistor material can be used to fabricate un-cooled IR detectors their figure of merit is the Temperature Coefficient of Resistance (TCR). Ge dots in Si can act as a thermistor material and they have a theoretical TCR higher than for SiGe layers but they suffer from intermixing of Si into the Ge dots. Ge dots were grown on unstrained or strained Si layers and relaxed or strained SiGe layers at temperatures of 550 and 600°C by reduced pressure chemical vapor deposition (RPCVD). Both single and multilayer structures where grown and characterized. To achieve a strong signal in a thermal detector a uniform shape and size distribution of the dots is desired. In this thesis work, an endeavor has been to grow uniform Ge dots with small standard deviation of their size. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Atomic force microscopy (AFM) have been used to characterize the size and shape distribution of Ge dots. Ge contents measured with Raman spectroscopy are higher at lower growth temperatures. Simulation of TCR for the most uniform sample grown at 600°C give 4.43%/K compared to 3.85%/K for samples grown at 650°C in a previous thesis work. Strained surfaces increases dot sizes and make dots align in crosshatched pattern resulting in smaller density, this effect increases with increasing strain. Strain from buried layers of Ge dots in a multilayer structure make dots align vertically. This alignment of Ge dots was very sensitive to the thickness of the Si barrier layer. The diameter of dots increase for each period in a multilayer structure. When dots are capped by a Si layer at the temperature of 600°C intermixing of Si into the Ge dot occurs and the dot height decrease.

This thesis presents the development of integrated readout electronics for diode type microbolometers and development of external camera electronics for microbolometers. The developed readout electronics are fabricated with its integrated 160x120 resolution FPA (Focal Plane Array) in the XFAB SOI-CMOS 1.0 &mu / m process. The pixels in the FPA have 70 &mu / m pixel pitch, and they are sensitive in the 8&ndash / 12 &mu / m band of the infrared spectrum. Each pixel has 4 serially connected diodes, and diode turn on voltage changes as the temperature of the suspended and thermally isolated pixel increases due to the absorbed infrared power. Suspension of the pixels is obtained with a post-CMOS MEMS etching process, but this process requires no critical litography and/or deposition steps. This dramatically reduces the detector process cost, which makes this microbolometer FPA suitable for ultra low-cost applications such as automobile, security, and commercial applications. The readout electronics of the FPA include digital blocks such as timing and programming blocks as well as analog blocks such as a differential trans-conductance amplifier, a switched capacitor integrator, a sampleand- hold, and current DACs. This new readout design has reduced number of pins to simplify the external electronics and allows wafer-level vacuum packaging compared to the 128x128 FPA developed in a previous study at METU with the same approach. Both of these features further decrease the cost. Two kinds of external camera electronics are developed for two SOI type microbolometers. The first one is for the 128x128 SOI microbolometer previously designed in METU. The developed external camera electronics have 1.5mVrms noise, which is much less than the microbolometer noise. The overall system has an average NETD of 465 mK and a peak NETD of 320mK. The second developed external camera electronics are for the 160x120 SOI microbolometers that developed in the scope of this thesis. The developed external camera electronics has 0.55mVrms noise which is much less than the bolometer noise which is 5mVrms. The overall system has an average NETD of 820 mK and a peak NETD of 350 mK. Each of these external camera electronics include a custom designed PCB, an FPGA board with appropiate configurion and a software working on a PC. The custom designed PCB holds the external components for the microbolometer, an FPGA takes and processes the bolometer data and it sends to a PC, and a PC processes these data and forms a streaming video. These two external camera electronics allow to obtain human images verifying that the developed microbolometers can be used for security and automotive applications.

Infrared antennas are employed in sensing applications requiring specific spectral, polarization, and directional properties. Because of their inherently small dimensions, there is significant interaction, both thermal and electromagnetic, between the antenna, the antenna-coupled sensor, and the low-frequency readout structures necessary for signal extraction at the baseband modulation frequency. Validation of design models against measurements requires separation of these effects so that the response of the antenna-coupled sensor alone can be measured in a calibrated manner. Such validations will allow confident extension of design techniques to more complex infrared-antenna configurations. Two general techniques are explored to accomplish this goal. The extraneous signal contributions can be measured separately with calibration structures closely co-located near the devices to be characterized. This approach is demonstrated in two specific embodiments, for removal of cross-polarization effects arising from lead lines in an antenna-coupled infrared dipole, and for removal of distributed thermal effects in an infrared phased-array antenna. The second calibration technique uses scanning near-field microscopy to experimentally determine the spatial dependence of the electric-field distributions on the signal-extraction structures, and to include these measured fields in the computational electromagnetic model of the overall device. This approach is demonstrated for infrared dipole antennas which are connected to coplanar strip lines. Specific situations with open-circuit and short-circuit impedances at the termination of the lines are investigated.

La détection infrarouge, autrefois réservée aux applications militaires et spatiales, connait depuis une dizaine d’années une mutation importante et s’ouvre de plus en plus vers des marchés "grand public". Cette démocratisation est principalement liée aux développements rapides que connaissent les technologies utilisant des bolomètres "non refroidis", qui profitent de leurs compatibilités avec les filières de la microélectronique.La technologie utilisée au CEA/LETI repose sur l’utilisation d’un matériau thermomètre à base de silicium amorphe (également noté "a-Si"). Ce dernier comporte de nombreux avantages dont, principalement, son excellente compatibilité avec les outils "classiques" de la microélectronique. Cependant, l’intégration d’un matériau thermomètre plus performant que le a-Si est nécessaire pour répondre aux défis à venir.Conscient de l’importance de cette problématique "matériau" le laboratoire CEA/LETI développe depuis plusieurs années des matériaux à base d’oxydes de métaux de transition déposés en couches minces.Cette étude s’appuie sur l’ensemble des variantes d’oxydes de métaux de transition étudié dans ce cadre. Cette palette de matériaux, qui se sont révélés très différents dans leur structure et, corrélativement, les mesures de transport dans chacun de ces types, nous ont permis de relier structure et mécanismes de conduction spécifiques à chacun. Une attention particulière a été portée aux mesures de TCR, ou « Temperature Coefficient of Resistance », (facteur à maximiser) et de bruit en 1/f (source de bruit à minimiser), les deux paramètres de choix pour le matériau thermistor.Des grandes tendances qui pilotent la performance d’un matériau thermistor pour la bolométrie ont pu être déduites de ces investigations. Les travaux présentés dans cette thèse permettent d’évaluer le potentiel de tel ou tel compétiteur avant d’en entreprendre le développement. / InfraRed detection, formerly reserved to defense and spatial applications, is currently undergoing deep changes which open new opportunities. Uncooled microbolometer technologies, compatible with classical semiconductors processes, are now able to produce low cost thermal imagers and this will open the door to customer markets in a close future.The technology developed in the CEA/LETI laboratory use the amorphous silicon (noted "a-Si") as the thermistor material. This material has many advantages, in particular, its excellent compatibility with the classical tools used in microelectronic industry. However, better performance in the thermistor material is still needed to address future applications.To handle this challenge, CEA/LETI laboratory is currently developing thermistors made of transition metal oxides thin films. The study presented hereby is based on various transition metal oxides samples deposited in the CEA/LETI Laboratory.Characterization of the structure and the electronic transport for each of these samples allowed us to put in evidence correlations between microscopic structure and conduction mechanisms. Two main figures of merit impacting the overall material performance were investigated : the TCR, Temperature Coefficient of Resistance (which must be maximized) and the 1/f noise (which must be minimized).Finally we conclude this work by highlighting majors outlines governing the performance of a thermistor.

Le but de cette thèse est d’établir une modélisation électromagnétique du détecteurbolométrique térahertz (THz). Ce travail aide à faciliter la conception de bolomètre THz dontla structure est basée sur celle de bolomètre infrarouge à température ambiante. Le contextede la thèse est l’imagerie THz active. Nous avons étudié le comportement électromagnétiqued’un bolomètre à antenne de bande spectrale 1 – 5 THz. Deux modes de simulation ont étéréalisées : l’une est en mode de réception et l’autre est d’émission. La combinaison de cesmodes de simulation constitue un outil important pour concevoir le bolomètre THz. Latechnique de spectroscopie par transformée de Fourier a été utilisée pour caractériserexpérimentalement le comportement électromagnétique du détecteur. Nous avons mesuré laréflectivité de la surface du plan focal de détecteur ainsi que la réponse spectrale du détecteur.Les deux sont confrontées avec la simulation et elles se trouvent en bon accord. Avec lesconnaissances obtenues des résultats théorique et mesuré, la recherche aide à améliorer desperformances du détecteur actuel. Nous avons aussi proposé un design pour le bolomètre defaible fréquence (850 GHz). Ce dernier ouvre la perspective d’emmener la technologie debolomètre d’infrarouge vers la bande sous-térahertz où l’imagerie est beaucoup plusfavorable. / This PhD thesis aims to establish an electromagnetic modeling of the bolometer atterahertz (THz) range that can facilitate the design of the detector from the uncooled infraredbolometer technology. The envisaged application for the detectors lies in active THz imagingat room temperature. We have studied the optical coupling of a THz antenna-coupledbolometer operating in the range 1 – 5 THz. Simulations in receiving and transmitting modeshave been performed to study the optical characteristics of the bolometer. The combination ofthese two simulation types leads to a powerful toolset to design terahertz bolometers. For theexperimental aspect, measurements have been performed by using Fourier-transformtechnique to study experimentally the electromagnetic behavior of the bolometer. They aremeasurement of reflectivity of the focal plane array’s surface and spectral responsemeasurement. The results of measurement were found to be in good agreement with thesimulation. The understanding from the study in this PhD helps us make improvement to theactual detector. Also the design of bolometer for low frequency (850 GHz) has beenproposed. This leads to a perspective of using bolometer for terahertz imaging at thefrequency where many characteristic of the terahertz radiation are favorable for imagingapplication.

Nous avons étudié l'effet des rayons cosmiques dans les détecteurs en utilisant un bolomètre de germanium composite NTD à basse température, et une source de particules alpha comme source générique d'impulsions. Nous avons caractérisé ce bolomètre en constatant que la forme de son impulsion était due à la combinaison de sa réponse impulsionnelle (la somme de deux exponentielles doubles), et des effets liés à la position découlant de la thermalisation des phonons balistiques en phonons thermiques dans son absorbeur. Nous avons établi un schéma décrivant la forme de l'impulsion dans ce bolomètre en comparant une impulsion mathématique générique à une seconde description basée sur la physique thermique. Nous constatons que la thermalisation des phonons balistiques, suivie de la diffusion thermique, jouent un rôle important dans la forme de l'impulsion, en parallèle avec le couplage électrothermique et les effets électriques dépendant de la température. Nous avons modélisé les impulsions en observant que leur comportement peut être reproduit en tenant compte de la réflexion de phonons balistiques sur le bord de l’absorbeur, avec un couplage thermique fort au capteur central du bolomètre. Compte tenu de ces résultats, nous étudions également les effets des rayons cosmiques sur l’instrument Athena X-Ray Integral Field Unit (X-IFU), en produisant des timelines simulées et en testant la hausse de la valeur moyenne de la température (RMS) sur la plaquette du détecteur. Nous montrons que le flux thermique attendu des rayons cosmiques est au même ordre de grandeur que le maximum autorisé ΔTRMS ce qui constitue une menace sur le budget de la résolution énergétique de l'instrument. / We have studied the effect of cosmic rays in detectors using a composite NTD germanium bolometer at low temperatures and an alpha particle source as a generic source of pulses. We have characterised this bolometer, finding that its pulse shape is due to a combination of its impulse response function (the sum of two double exponentials), and position-dependent effects arising from thermalisation of ballistic phonons into thermal phonons in its absorber. We have derived a scheme for describing the pulse shape in this bolometer, comparing a generic mathematical pulse shape with a second description based on thermal physics. We find that ballistic phonon thermalisation, followed by thermal diffusion, play a significant role in the pulse shape, along with electro-thermal coupling and temperature-dependent electrical effects. We have modelled the pulses, finding that their behaviour can be reproduced accounting for ballistic phonon reflection off the absorber border, with a strong thermal coupling to the bolometer’s central sensor. With these findings, we also investigate the effects of cosmic rays on the Athena X-Ray Integral Field Unit (X-IFU), producing simulated timelines and testing the average RMS temperature increase on the detector wafer, showing that the expected cosmic ray thermal flux is within the same order of magnitudeas the maximum allowed ΔTRMS, posing a threat to the instrument’s energy resolution budget.

Gold black porous coatings were thermally evaporated in the chamber backfilled with inert gas pressure and their optical properties were studied in near-far-IR wavelengths. The porosities of coatings were found to be extremely high around ~ 99%. Different approaches of effective medium theories such as Maxwell-Garnett, Bruggeman, Landau-Lifshitz-Looyenga and Bergman Formalism were utilized to calculate refractive index (n) and extinction coefficient (k). The aging induced changes on electrical and optical properties were studied in regular laboratory conditions using transmission electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and fore-probe electrical measurements. A significant decrease in electrical resistance in as deposited coating was found to be consistent with changes in the granular structure with aging at room temperature. Electrical relaxation model was applied to calculate structural relaxation time in the coatings prepared with different porosities. Interestingly, with aging, absorptance of the coatings improved, which is explained using conductivity form of Bergman Formulism. Underlying aim of this work was to utilize gold blacks to improve sensitivity in un-cooled IR sensors consist of pixel arrays. To achieve this, fragile gold blacks were patterned on sub-mm length scale areas using both stenciling and conventional photolithography. Infrared spectral imaging with sub-micron spatial resolution revealed the spatial distribution of absorption across the gold black patterns produced with both the methods. Initial experiments on VOx-Au bolometers showed that, gold black improved the responsivity by 42%. This work successfully establishes promising role of gold black coatings in commercial un-cooled infrared detectors.

No description available.

Currently, the concept of multipurpose spacecrafts is being transformed into many small spacecrafts each of them performing specific tasks and thus leading to the realization of pico and nano satellites. No matter what is the application or size, demand for more number of IR channels for earth observation is ever increasing which necessitates significant reduction in the mass, power requirement and cost of the IR detectors. In this scenario, several order of magnitude mass and power savings associated with uncooled IR arrays are advantageous compared to cooled photon detectors. However the poor speed of response of uncooled microbolometer array devices obstruct the total replacement of cooled detectors in thermal imaging applications. This is especially true when the mission requires 50 m to 100 m ground resolution, in which even the "fastest" micro bolometer arrays turns "too slow" to follow the ground trace when looked from low earth orbit (LEO). Hence there is a great and unfulfilled requirement of faster uncooled detector arrays for meeting the demand for future micro and mini satellite projects for advanced missions. The present thesis describes the systematic studies carried out in development of high performance IR and THz detectors for space applications. Ge-Si-O thin films are prepared by ion beam sputtering technique with argon (Ar) alone and argon and oxygen as sputtering species, using sputtering targets of different compositions of Ge and SiO2. The deposited thin films are amorphous in nature and have chemical compositions close to that of the target. The study of electrical properties has shown that the activation energy and hence the thermistor constant (β) and electrical resistivity (ρ) are sensitive to oxygen flow rate, and they are the least for thin films prepared with Ar alone as the sputtering species. Different thermal isolation structures (TIS), consisting of silicon nitride (Si3N4) membrane of different thicknesses, Ge-Si-O thin film and, chromium coating on the rear side of the membrane, are prepared by bulk micro-machining technique, whose thermal conductance (Gth) properties are evaluated from the experimentally determined current-voltage (I-V) characteristics. Gth shows non-linear dependence with respect to raise in temperature of thin film thermistor due to Joule heating. The infrared micro-bolometer detectors, fabricated using one of the TIS structures have shown responsivity (<v) close to 115 V W−1 at a bias voltage of 1.5 V and chopping frequency of 10 Hz, thermal time constant (τth) of 2.5 ms and noise voltage of 255 nV Hz−1⁄2 against the corresponding thermal properties of Gth and thermal capacitance Cth equal to 9.0 × 10−5 W K−1 and 1.95 × 10−7 J K−1 respectively. The detectors are found to have uniform spectral response in the infrared region from 2 µm to 20 µm, and NEDT in the range from 108 mK to 574 mK when used with an F/1 optical system. The detector, in an infrared earth sensor system, is tested before an extended black body which simulates the earth disc in the laboratory and the results are discussed. As an extension of the single element detector to array device, design of a microbolometer array for earth sensor dispensing of scanning mechanisms is presented. It makes use of four microbolometer arrays with in-line staggered configuration that stare at the earth horizons, perceiving IR radiation in the spectral band of 14 µm to 16 µm. Design of the microbolometer has been carried out keeping in mind low power, lightweight, without compromising on the performance. An array configuration of 16 × 2 pixels is designed and developed for this purpose. Finite elemental analysis is carried out for design optimization to yield best thermal properties and thus high performance of the detectors. Suitable optical design configuration was arrived to image the earth horizon on to array. Using this optimum design, prototype arrays have been fabricated, packaged and tested in front of the black body radiation source and found to have Responsivity, NEP, and D∗ of 120 V W−1, 5.0 W Hz−1⁄2, 1.10 × 107 cm Hz1⁄2 W−1 respectively. The pixels show a uniform response within a spread of ±6 % and the pixel resistances are within a range of ±5 %. Optically Immersed Bolometer IR detectors are fabricated using electron beam evaporated Vanadium Oxide as the sensing material. Spin coated polyimide is used as medium to optically immerse the sensing element to the flat surface of a hemispherical germanium lens. This optical immersion layer also serves as the thermal impedance control layer and decides the performance of the devices in terms of responsivity and noise parameters. The devices have been packaged in suitable electro-optical packages and the detector parameters are studied in detail. Thermal time constant varies from 0.57 ms to 6.1 ms and responsivity from 75VW−1 to 757VW−1 corresponding to polyimide thickness in the range 2.0 μm to 70 μm for a detector bias of 9V. Highest D obtained was 1.28 × 108 cm Hz1⁄2W−1. Noise Equivalent Temperature Difference (NETD) of 20mK is achieved for devices with polyimide thickness of 32 μm, whereas the NETD × th product is the lowest for devices with moderate thickness of thermal impedance layer. Bolometric THz detectors were fabricated using V2O5 as sensing element immersed onto germanium hemispherical lens using polyimide as immersion media. These detectors were characterized for their efficiency in detection of THz radiation in the range 10 THz to 35 THz emitted by a black body radiator. The responsivity of the devices determined in four different frequency bands covering the spectrum of interest and a maximum responsivity of 398VW−1 was observed. A variation in the responsivity is observed which is due to the characteristics absorption of polyimide in the THz region of interest and can be avoided by replacing with HDPE which has less attenuation. NEP of 6.8 × 10−10WHz−1⁄2 was observed which is very close to the state of art in the case of uncooled detectors which entitles the detectors for spectroscopic applications. Specific Detectivity D* was observed to be much higher than the conventional detectors thanks to the benefits of immersion. NETD of 26mK was observed which is advantageous of application of these detectors in imaging applications These studies have lead to development of a new technology for fabrication of high performance IR and THz detectors which can be used for spectroscopic and imaging applications. Further, this technology can be scaled for development of linear and area arrays finding applications where the speed of respnose as well as sensitivity are of equal importance. from 0.57 ms to 6.1 ms and responsivity from 75 V W−1 to 757 V W−1 corresponding to polyimide thickness in the range 2.0 µm to 70 µm for a detector bias of 9 V. Highest D∗ obtained was 1.28 × 108 cm Hz1⁄2 W−1. Noise Equivalent Temperature Difference (NETD) of 20 mK is achieved for devices with polyimide thickness of 32 µm, whereas the NETD × τth product is the lowest for devices with moderate thickness of thermal impedance layer. Bolometric THz detectors were fabricated using V2O5 as sensing element immersed onto germanium hemispherical lens using polyimide as immersion media. These detectors were characterized for their efficiency in detection of THz radiation in the range 10 THz to 35 THz emitted by a black body radiator. The responsivity of the devices determined in four different frequency bands covering the spectrum of interest and a maximum responsivity of 398 V W−1 was observed. A variation in the responsivity is observed which is due to the characteristics absorption of polyimide in the THz region of interest and can be avoided by replacing with HDPE which has less attenuation. NEP of 6.8 × 10−10 W Hz−1⁄2 was observed which is very close to the state of art in the case of uncooled detectors which entitles the detectors for spectroscopic applications. Specific Detectivity D* was observed to be much higher than the conventional detectors thanks to the benefits of immersion. NETD of 26 mK was observed which is advantageous of application of these detectors in imaging applications These studies have lead to development of a new technology for fabrication of high performance IR and THz detectors which can be used for spectroscopic and imaging applications. Further, this technology can be scaled for development of linear and area arrays finding applications where the speed of respnose as well as sensitivity are of equal importance.

Master of Technology: Mechanical Engineering in the Faculty of Engineering at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology Supervisor:Prof Philander Oscar Bellville Campus Date of submission: April 2013 / The Advanced Manufacturing Technology Strategy (AMTS), predecessor of the Technology Innovation Agency, was a national strategy focused principally on improving collaboration amongst industry, academia and science councils. The aerospace industries and training institutions in particular have been identified as key thrust areas for achieving economic development through the AMTS. Furthermore, the AMTS Aerospace Interest Group has been identified as one of the most important facets of Micro and Nano Manufacturing, Sensors and Electronics Flagship Program. The manufacturing of Micro and Nano Electronics and sensors is essential for South Africa to sustain the technology capability development as seen in developed countries. For example, there is an urgent need to establish a Photo Lithography facility for South African industry and training Institutions. The demand for the new generations of industrial, military, commercial, medical, automotive and aerospace products in South Africa in particular, and in the world in general, has fuelled research and development activities focused on advanced and smart materials. This situation has allowed for the emergence of a new generation of infrared sensors, the bolometer, based on an infrared thermal detection mechanism which is particularly suited to operate at ambient temperature, opening opportunities for achieving low cost infrared imaging systems for both military and commercial applications. This work deals with different South African bolometer membranes of the second prototype in collaboration with the University of Pretoria and Denel Optronics. The bolometer is an infrared thermal sensor that measures thermal radiation by converting said radiation into a temperature change and subsequently measuring the induced change in electrical resistance. The term infrared from Latin Infra, meaning below, is usually applied to wavelengths between 700nm and 1mm. It can be argued that the first occurrence of infrared sensing actually goes back several millennia, when men placed their hands over recently extinguished fire. However, until Herschel’s experiment, this kind of infrared was between the sun and the earth. Thermal imaging, which refers to the ability to measure the temperature of different points on a scene, requires either an array of infrared detectors operating in those wavelength ranges or a way to scan a scene using a single detector. To realise this work, objectives have been assigned to different groups of the consortium represented by CPUT, UP and Denel. Analyses of thirteen bolometer membranes including metal bolometer (Titanium) and Vanadium oxide were assigned to CPUT, reason why this thesis focuses on the modelling, designing and testing of the bolometer membranes. Masks design of the second prototype bolometer test structures includes several thermally isolated bolometer devices. These devices have been modelled and analysed in order to study their electrical and thermal behaviour. / Cape Peninsula University of Technology University of Pretoria Denel Optronics