A CMOS Compatible Pyroelectric Mid-Infrared Detector Based on Aluminium Nitride
Christian Ranacher 1,2,*
, Cristina Consani 1, Andreas Tortschanoff 1, Lukas Rauter 1, Dominik Holzmann 1, Clement Fleury 1, Gerald Stocker 2, Andrea Fant 2, Herbert Schaunig 2, Peter Irsigler 2, Thomas Grille 2 and Bernhard Jakoby 3
, Cristina Consani 1, Andreas Tortschanoff 1, Lukas Rauter 1, Dominik Holzmann 1, Clement Fleury 1, Gerald Stocker 2, Andrea Fant 2, Herbert Schaunig 2, Peter Irsigler 2, Thomas Grille 2 and Bernhard Jakoby 3
1
Carinthian Tech Research AG, 9524 Villach, Austria
2
Infineon Technologies Austria AG, 9500 Villach, Austria
3
Institute for Microelectronics and Microsensors, Johannes Kepler University Linz, 4040 Linz, Austria
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Sensors 2019, 19(11), 2513; https://doi.org/10.3390/s19112513
Received: 28 March 2019 / Revised: 24 May 2019 / Accepted: 29 May 2019 / Published: 31 May 2019
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Infrared Sensors and Technologies)
Abstract
The detection of infrared radiation is of great interest for a wide range of applications, such as absorption sensing in the infrared spectral range. In this work, we present a CMOS compatible pyroelectric detector which was devised as a mid-infrared detector, comprising aluminium nitride (AlN) as the pyroelectric material and fabricated using semiconductor mass fabrication processes. To ensure thermal decoupling of the detector, the detectors are realized on a Si3N4/SiO2 membrane. The detectors have been tested at a wavelength close to the CO2 absorption region in the mid-infrared. Devices with various detector and membrane sizes were fabricated and the influence of these dimensions on the performance was investigated. The noise equivalent power of the first demonstrator devices connected to a readout circuit was measured to be as low as
Figure 1
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Ranacher, C.; Consani, C.; Tortschanoff, A.; Rauter, L.; Holzmann, D.; Fleury, C.; Stocker, G.; Fant, A.; Schaunig, H.; Irsigler, P.; Grille, T.; Jakoby, B. A CMOS Compatible Pyroelectric Mid-Infrared Detector Based on Aluminium Nitride. Sensors 2019, 19, 2513.
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