Physics / mechanism
Microbolometers are uncooled thermal infrared detectors. Incident LWIR photons (8–14 µm) heat a thermally isolated membrane—typically vanadium oxide (VOx) or amorphous silicon (a-Si)—whose resistance changes measurably with temperature (TCR: −2 to −3 %/K for VOx). A ROIC (readout integrated circuit) samples each pixel’s resistance change; no photon-to-electron conversion occurs, so no cooling is required. Arrays are monolithically integrated via MEMS post-processing on standard CMOS ROICs. Current SoA: 12 µm pixel pitch, 1920×1080 formats, NETD <30 mK, f/1.0. Key suppliers: FLIR/Teledyne, Lynred, BAE Systems, INO, Seek Thermal, Hikvision.
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