Abstract
The micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) infrared thermopile is the core working device of modern information detection systems such as spectrometers, gas sensors, and remote temperature sensors. We presented two different structures of MEMS infrared thermopiles based on suspended film structures. They both deposited silicon nitride over the entire surface as a passivated absorber layer in place of a separate absorber zone, and the thermocouple strip was oriented in the same direction as the temperature gradient. The same MEMS preparation process was used and finally two different structures of the thermopile were characterized separately for testing to verify the impact of our design on the detector. The test results show that the circular and double-ended symmetrical thermopile detectors have responsivities of 27.932 V/W and 23.205 V/W, specific detectivities of 12.1×107 cm·Hz1/2·W−1 and 10.1×107 cm·Hz1/2·W−1, and response time of 26.2 ms and 27.06 ms, respectively. In addition, rectangular double-ended symmetric thermopile has a larger field of view than a circular thermopile detector, but is not as mechanically stable as a circular thermopile.
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Acknowledgment
The authors would like to appreciate Micro/Nano Fabrication Center, North University of China, for the supporting of MEMS chip manufacturing. They would also like to appreciate the Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, CAS and Wuxi Hinovaic, for providing the tools in the processes.
This work was supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51935011), Innovative Research Group Project of National Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51821003), Fund for Shanxi “1331 Project” Key Subject Construction, Key Research and Development Project of Shanxi Province (Grant Nos. 202102030201001 and 202102030201009), and Key Special Project of Science and Technology of Shanxi Province (Grant No. 202201030201004).
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Lei, C., Guan, Y., Liang, T. et al. Micromachined Infrared Thermopile Detector Based on a Suspended Film Structure. Photonic Sens 13, 230309 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13320-023-0682-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13320-023-0682-0