Bi-material resonant infrared thermal detector and array

摘要

A resonant infrared thermal sensor with high sensitivity, whose sensing element is a bi-material structure with thermal expansion mismatch effect, is presented in this paper. The sensor detects infrared radiation by means of tracking the change in resonance frequency of the bi-material structure with temperature change attributed to the infrared radiation from targets. The bi-material structure can amplify the change in resonance frequency compared to a single material sensing structure. In accordance with the theory of vibration mechanics and design principle of infrared thermal detector, the bi-material resonant sensor by means of which an array can be achieved is designed. The simulation results, by ANSYS software analysis based on multi-layer shell finite element, demonstrate that the dependence of resonance frequency on temperature of the designed sensing structure achieves 1Hz/0.01℃. A microarray with 6×6 resonant infrared sensors is fabricated based on microelectronics processes being compatible with integrated circuit fabrication technology. The frequency variation corresponding to the temperature shift can be obtained by electrical measurement.