Feed-horn antenna for enhanced uncooled infrared sensor using novel UV lithography, plastic micromachining and mesh structure bonding

Abstract

In this paper, we report a uncooled infrared sensor coupled with a 3-dimensional (3D) feed-horn shape micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) antenna using novel UV lithography technique for fabricating a 3D feed-horn-shaped mold array, obtaining parallel light using a mirror-reflected parallel-beam illuminator (MRPBI) system and plastic micromaching. The microassembly of infrared detector and 3D feed-horn-shaped antenna arrays is difficult using the conventional MEMS bonding process. To overcome limitation, the proposed novel 3D MEMS bonding technique is mesh structure bonding (MSB) using microchannels with micromolding in capillaries by polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). The feasibility of fabricating both a 3D feed-horn MEMS antenna and a mold array was demonstrated. As a result, it seems possible to use a 3D feed-horn-shaped MEMS antenna to improve uncooled infrared sensor performance and applications to fabricate MEMS device.