Enhanced characteristics of an uncooled microbolometer using vanadium-tungsten oxide as a thermometric material

Abstract

To produce a highly sensitive uncooled microbolometer, the development of a high-performance thermometric material is essential. In this work, amorphous vanadium-tungsten oxide was developed as a thermometric material at a low temperature of 300 degrees C, and the microbolometer, coupled with the material, was designed and fabricated using surface micromachining technology. The vanadium-tungsten oxide showed good properties for application to the microbolometer, such as a high-temperature coefficient of resistance of over -4.0%/K and good compatibility with the surface micromachining and integrated circuit fabrication process due to its low fabrication temperature. As a result, the uncooled microbolometer could be fabricated with high detectivity over 1.0 x 10(9) cm Hz(1/2)/W at a bias current of 7.5 mu A and a chopper frequency of 10 - 20 Hz. (c) 2005 American Institute of Physics.