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This study describes a new method to compensate bias heating effects for microbolometer readout circuits using a finely adjustable CMOS resistance as a reference. The proposed self calibrated cooler-less structure dynamically modifies CMOS resistance during integration time. This compensation structure also includes a feedback loop, which forces the oscillators to work in the linear region. The proposed self calibration circuit is designed and simulated using a 65-nm process node, and achieves 40 mK NETD (Noise Equivalent Temperature Difference) value for one percent resistance non-uniformity of pixel resistance values across one row. The layout area of this circuit occupies approximately one third of the layout area used by classical readout circuits. The circuit dissipates one third of power compared with classical microbolometer readout approaches.

We report a novel design for bolometric infrared detector operating at the long-wave infrared (LWIR) range for high-resolution human body temperature sensing and monitoring. We propose to incorporate efficient plasmonic absorber and high-responsivity VO2 nanobeam biased at transition temperature in our design to facilitate improvement in both aspects – thermal resolution and spatial resolution. The integration of plasmonic absorber allows efficient and selective radiation absorption. The use of a transducing nanobeam placed in close proximity to the plasmonic local heaters allows the radiation energy to be electronically readable. The use of nanobeam instead of a film in the detector allows over two-orders of magnitude improvement in responsivity owing to the large length to cross-sectional area ratio. Additionally, the use of nanobeam reduces the thermal mass and improves the bandwidth. Our calculation suggests a responsivity of as high as 700 kV/W at 100 Hz for a detector of only $12\,\,\mu \text{m}\,\,\times 12\,\,\mu \text{m}$ pixel size. Also, the theoretical noise equivalent temperature difference is calculated to be as low as 3.67 mK which is almost an order of improvement than the state-of-the-art bolometric LWIR detectors with larger pixel dimensions.

High-performance InAs/GaSb type-II superlattice infrared detectors and focal plane arrays (FPAs) are normally grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). In this work, we demonstrate the first long-wavelength infrared InAs/GaSb superlattice FPA grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) with clear image. High-quality superlattice material was obtained evidenced by sharp X-ray diffraction peaks and atomic flat surface. Electrical and optical measurements performed on single element detectors showed a 50% cut-off wavelength of $\sim 10.1~\mu \text{m}$ , a dark current density of $2.5\times 10^{-5}$ A/cm2, a peak responsivity of 0.88 A/W and a peak detectivity of $1.7\times 10^{11}$ cm $\cdot $ Hz1/2/W at 80 K. A $320\times256$ FPA with $30~\mu \text{m}$ pixel pitch was then fabricated. With an integration time of 1.9 ms and an applied bias of -0.1 V, the FPA shows an average operability of 96.96%, a non-uniformity of 4.97%, a noise equivalent temperature difference of 51.1 mK and a peak detectivity of $2.3\times 10^{10}$ cm $\cdot $ Hz1/2/W at 80 K without thinning down the substrate.

We present the metrological characterization and calibration of three different types of thermographic cameras for quantitative temperature measurement traceable to the International Temperature Scale (ITS-90). Relevant technical specifications – i.e., the non-uniformity of the pixel-to-pixel responsivity, the inhomogeneity equivalent temperature difference (IETD), the noise equivalent temperature difference (NETD), and the size-of-source effect (SSE) – are determined according to the requirements given in the series of Technical Directives VDI/VDE 5585. The measurements are performed with the camera calibration facility of the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt. The data reference method is applied for the determination and improvement of the non-uniformity, leading to an improved IETD for all three cameras. Finally, the cameras are calibrated according to the different procedures discussed in the VDI/VDE 5585 series. Results achieved with the different calibration procedures are compared for each type of camera and among the three cameras. An uncertainty budget for the calibration of each camera is given according to GUM (ISO, 1995) and VDI/VDE 5585.

The goal of the presented article is to investigate the impact of warm filters and elevated background temperature on the operation of an uncooled wideband camera used for optical gas imaging (OGI). The noise equivalent temperature difference (NETD) parameter is measured for a VOx wideband OGI camera built for the purpose of the experiments, with and without an interference filter. The results demonstrate that warm filters have a clear effect on the performance of the OGI camera. Based on the standard NETD measurement procedures, a camera-scene noise equivalent temperature difference (CSNETD) parameter is proposed to quantify both the camera and scene noise. The CSNETD measurements are used to evaluate the impact of elevated background temperature on the performance of the OGI camera. Finally, the camera is used to image methane leaks in the mid-wave infrared (MWIR) and long-wave infrared (LWIR) bands. The results are consistent with the presented NETD/CSNETD measurements and confirm the impact of warm filters and elevated background temperature on the operation of the uncooled thermal imaging camera.

InAs/GaAsSb type-II superlattice (T2SL) materials grown at a higher temperature and lattice-matched to InAs substrates are considered to have significant advantages in long wavelength infrared (LWIR) detection. In this work, an InAs/GaAsSb T2SL LWIR focal plane array (FPA) was fabricated and evaluated. The FPA has a format of $320\times256$ with a pixel pitch of 30 $\mu \text{m}$ and exhibits a 100% cutoff wavelength of 9.5 $\mu \text{m}$ at 80 K. Under a bias of -0.02V, the detectors show a dark current of $1.7\times 10^{-5}$ A/cm2 and a differential resistance-area of $1.5\times 10^{3} \Omega \cdot \text {cm}^{2}$ . The noise equivalent temperature difference and operability of the FPA are 20.7 mK and 99.2% respectively under an integration time of $400~\mu \text{s}$ , a 300 K background and F/2.0 optics. This high-performance FPA further verifies the feasibility of InAs/GaAsSb T2SL in LWIR detection.

For improving the dynamic range and sensitivity at high power load, we have integrated superconductor-insulator-normal metal-insulator-superconductor (SINIS) bolometers with a frequency selective surface (FSS)-based distributed absorber formed by a series and parallel array consisting of 25 annular antenna elements, each containing two SINIS bolometers. By using a design with 50 bolometers, we reduce incident power load on each bolometer, increase sensitivity and saturation power which is important for ground-based and balloon-borne telescopes with high background power loads. Our main detector pixel is optimized for a frequency band centered at 345GHz. The detectors are matched to incoming telescope beam by a back-to-back horn with a back reflector. Such a configuration improves both the efficiency and the bandwidth of the receiver. Measured voltage responsivity approaches 210(9) VW with an amplifier-limited voltage noise of 20nVHz(12), which corresponds to a NEP 10(-17) WHz(12). The linear voltage response for incoming power is observed for absorbed power of about 5 pW. The current responsivity for parallel array is 210(4) AW and the shot noise limited intrinsic noise equivalent power is NEP 510(-18)WHz(12). The noise equivalent temperature difference is NETD 100 KHz(12) at 2.7-K background radiation temperature.

This paper presents a novel and power efficient readout architecture for uncooled microbolometers that offers adequate noise performance along with a circuit-based method for self-heating compensation. The proposed method employs an event-generation scheme and a time-mode readout chain to achieve dynamic mode of operation resulting in low power. The readout chain consists of a capacitive transimpedance amplifier (CTIA) based current-to-time converter followed by a two stage time-to-digital converter (TDC). The CTIA employs a novel integration scheme for time amplification along with a modified reset mechanism to achieve self-heating compensation. We also present a model to analyze the implications of time-mode readout on imager operation. An experimental readout chip, based on this approach, has been designed using a 130 nm bulk CMOS technology. The proposed architecture offers robust frontend processing and achieves a per channel power consumption of $66~\mu \text{W}$ , which is considerably lower than the most recently reported designs, while maintaining better than 10-mK readout noise equivalent temperature difference (NETD).

Advancement in thermal imaging technology has improved the day and night surveillance capability of electro-optical system. Thermal imager detects the object of interest by sensing the temperature difference. The performance evaluation of these thermal imagers plays a vital role prior to effective deployment. Key performance parameter of thermal imaging system is minimum resolvable temperature difference (MRTD), as it is able to determine the overall system performance involving a human operator. MRTD is capable of defining the minimum temperature difference required to resolve the bar target pattern of defined spatial frequencies and provides the true estimate of the range performance of a thermal imaging system. In conventional methods, 4-bar target of defined resolution is exposed to the minimum resolvable condition to compute MRTD values. Presently, subjective MRTD measurement employs an operator to observe the minimum resolvable condition, and therefore, measurement suffers from poor repeatability. During large volume production, this practice becomes a tedious procedure to evaluate large numbers of thermal imaging sights. To ease the performance evaluation procedure, an objective MRTD measurement method for the evaluation of the thermal imaging system has been presented. In the present work, objective MRTD measurement method for advance thermal imager by computing the modulation transfer function and noise equivalent temperature difference has been presented. Experiments have been conducted to measure subjective and objective MRTDs. Results for both subjective and objective MRTD measurements have been compared and presented. It is found that the proposed method is able to produce very close result within accuracy of more than 95% than that of conventional methods.

This letter presents a device for biasing bolometric infrared imaging sensors to increase the operating temperature range and enhance performance. It addresses the market’s need for uncooled readout circuits that are easier to use. Here, we propose an integrated biasing system capable of managing the bolometric sensor’s high-temperature dependence. We demonstrated that a biasing architecture using thermalized bolometers can automatically offset resistance variations in the active bolometer due to temperature variations of the focal plane array (FPA). Our research concerns a 12- $\mu \text{m}$ pixel pitch QVGA matrix that operates at 50-mK noise equivalent temperature difference (NETD).

Today’s long-range infrared cameras (LRIRC) are used in many systems for the protection of critical infrastructure or national borders. The basic technical parameters of such systems are noise equivalent temperature difference (NETD); minimum resolvable temperature difference (MRTD); and the range of detection, recognition and identification of selected objects (DRI). This paper presents a methodology of the theoretical determination of these parameters on the basis of technical data of LRIRCs. The first part of the paper presents the methods used for the determination of the detection, recognition and identification ranges based on the well-known Johnson criteria. The theoretical backgrounds for both approaches are given, and the laboratory test stand is described together with a brief description of the methodology adopted for the measurements of the selected necessary characteristics of a tested observation system. The measurements were performed in the Accredited Testing Laboratory of the Institute of Optoelectronics of the Military University of Technology (AL IOE MUT), whose activity is based on the ISO/IEC 17025 standard. The measurement results are presented, and the calculated ranges for a selected set of IR cameras are given, obtained on the basis of the Johnson criteria. In the final part of the article, the obtained measurement results are presented together with an analysis of the measurement uncertainty for 10 LRIRCs. The obtained measurement results were compared to the technical parameters presented by the manufacturers.

We systematically investigate the characteristics of cytochrome c protein, whose absorption rate is 65% at wavelengths of $10~\mu \text{m}$ . We design a chip for an infrared sensor with suspended aluminum electrodes. The protein solution is deposited on sensing pixels using an inkjet printer. The temperature coefficient of resistance, responsivity, 1/f noise, and noise equivalent temperature difference are 29 %/K, 1.5*105 V/W, 5.88*10−5 V/Hz1/2 at 1.78 Hz and 4.29 mK, respectively. Cytochrome c protein thin film, possessing a high-temperature coefficient of resistance, is suitable for microbolometer design. We experimentally demonstrate integrating cytochrome c protein with a CMOS circuit as a sensing pixel for a long-wavelength infrared microbolometer at room temperature.

—Design and fabrication of photosensitive array elements in the 384 × 288 element format with a step of 25 μm with a long wavelength limit of sensitivity at 0.5 to approximately 9.5 μm were performed. The circuit and topology were developed, according to which matrix high-speed multiplexers are manufactured in the form of 384 × 288 elements with a step of 25 microns, which provide operating modes at a clock frequency of up to 20 MHz. The 384 × 288 element hybrid photodetector (PD) format in 25 μm increments has an average Noise Equivalent Temperature Difference (NETD) of less than 30 mK, while the number of working elements was more than 97%. Examples are given of using the microscanning system to reduce defective pixels in an image frame and/or increase the frame format to 768 × 576. It is shown that as a result of the use of microscans in a thermal imaging channel based on the developed PD during the transition to the 768 × 576 format, an improvement in spatial resolution of 1.4 times was obtained for the same minimum resolved temperature difference (MRTD), while the MRTD at a frequency of 0.44 mrad-1 decreased from 1.6 to 0.9 K compared to the original 384 × 288 format.

Mid-wavelength Infrared (MWIR) and long-wavelength infrared (LWIR) Barrier Infrared Detector (BIRD) based on Antimonides Type-II superlattice detector array material are hybridized to 640 × 512, 1024 × 1024 and 1344 × 784 pixels format read out integrated circuits. The focal plane arrays (FPAs) Noise Equivalent Temperature Difference (NEΔT), Quantum Efficiency (η), Dark Current Density (JD), and Modulation Transfer Function (MTF) performance were measured at operating temperatures. High performance 640 × 512 array format MWIR High Operating Temperature (HOT) FPA has typical NEΔT ∼ 19 mK, JD ∼ 6.2 × 10−7 A/cm2, and η ∼ 53% using 3–5 μm band pass filter at 115 K operating temperatures. Best performance 640 × 512 array format LWIR FPA has NEΔT ∼ 25 mK, JD ∼ 2.5 × 10−5 A/cm2 and η ∼ 41% using 8–9.4 μm band pass filter at 60 K operating temperatures. For MTF investigation, a novel direct one-to-one image approach of Line Spread Function (LSF) and Edge Spread Function (ESF) are patterned onto substrate-removed FPAs. The direct LSF and ESF image are produced by 1000 A° thick gold layer deposition. The direct image horizontal and vertical MTFs are compared with projected knife-edge ESF-derived MTFs and results indicate that direct image MTFs have higher values compared to projected knife-edge ESF-derived MTFs at a Nyquist frequency. However, direct image MTF requires no lens MTF correction. The only relevant requirement for the direct image MTF is for the deposited pattern and substrate to be extremely thinned in which the HOT-BIRD FPAs fulfilled for this investigation.

Improving heat insulation in microelectromechanical system based thermal-type infrared sensor is crucial to increase its performance. The concept of phonon engineering allows us to change material thermal conductivity by several orders of magnitudes, which can be a potential technique for thermal management of such microelectronic devices. Here, we introduced a phononic crystal structure in a prototype thermopile sensor to investigate the effectiveness of phonon engineering. We demonstrate that ultrafine phononic crystal structure, which was consisted of through-holes periodically arranged at 38 nm, resulted in ten-fold reduction in Si thermal conductivity. This led to improvement of the sensitivity of IR detection by a factor of ten. In addition, our phononic crystal could suppress thermal conductivity while maintaining the electrical conductivity, which enable us to increase the noise equivalent temperature difference by 5.6 times. The present study demonstrates great potential of phonon engineering for infrared sensor technology to reach for smaller pixel size and lower device cost.

High operating temperature(HOT) is the key for low size, weight and power(SWaP) detector development and SWaP detector is the key for modern weapon system such as unmanned aerial vehicle(UAV) and man portable system. The low dark current that determines the operating temperature can be achieved by adopting InAs/InAsSb type-II superlattice(T2SL) absorber and nBn structure. In this work, HOT mid-wavelength infrared(MWIR) detector with InAs/InAsSb T2SL absorber and AlAsSb barrier was developed. The AlAsSb barrier shows excellent lattice match with GaSb substrate. Only the dry etch for pixel reticulation was applied to fabricate the device. At 80 K, dark current density is 2e-9 A/cm2 at the bias -0.2 V and, at 130 K, 2e-7 A/cm2 at the bias -0.1 V. The quantum efficiency was measured for both front side illumination and back side illumination. The back side illumination offers higher quantum efficiency than the front side illumination. The average quantum efficiency is about 50 % for front side illumination with 3 μm absorber. The 640 x 512 VGA format focal plane array(FPA) with 15 μm pitch was fabricated to study the temperature dependency of electro-optical characteristics. It was found that mean noise equivalent temperature difference(NETD) below 150 K is 15 mK, which is limited by the well capacitance. As the temperature increases NETD increases proportional to the dark current.

Quantum well infrared photodetectors (QWIPs) have facilitated thermal imagers with excellent pixel operability, uniformity and stability. The main disadvantage of the standard QWIP technology is the low conversion efficiency (CE) as a result of weak quantum efficiency (QE) and photoconductive gain inhibiting the utilization of the sensor for low background and/or high frame rate applications. The other problem is the requirement of an optical grating which loses its efficiency with decreasing pixel pitch, as well as limiting the performance of dual-band focal plane array (FPA) due to the wavelength dependence of the diffraction-grating coupling efficiency. The author reports a grating-free 15 $\mu \text{m}$ pixel pitch $640\times 512$ mid-wavelength infrared (MWIR) QWIP FPA constructed with the InP/GaInP/In0.83Ga0.17 As material system with normal incident radiation absorption ability. The pixels yielded peak QE, CE and specific detectivity of 23%, ~40% and $1\times 10 ^{11}$ cmHz1/2/W (at ~80 K with f/2 optics) in spite of the absence of diffraction grating, substantially high cut-off wavelength (5.8 $\mu \text{m}$ ) and broad spectral response ( $\Delta \lambda /\lambda _{\mathbf {p}}=31$ %). Together with excellent (uncorrected) responsivity and noise equivalent temperature difference nonuniformities of 5.9% and 17%, the results illustrate tremendous improvement over the performance of the conventional MWIR QWIP FPA exhibiting great potential to revive the QWIP technology especially in dual-band imaging.

Considering the demand of performance test of infrared spectral imaging equipment, as the key indicator, the 3-D noise model of noise equivalent temperature difference is analyzed. The seven components and their meanings are presented. A test algorithm based on standard deviation of NETD is put forward. The paper shows the composing and principle of the detection system, and introduces the computational procedure and detection process of NETD. The test algorithm is verified by experiments. According to the comparison with the imported equipment, the test results have good duplication and high precision. The test system has been applied to the performance test for several kinds of infrared spectral imaging equipment, which meets the demand of engineering support.

In this study, a portable and large-area blackbody system was developed following a series of processes including design, computational analysis, fabrication, and experimental analysis and evaluation. The blackbody system was designed to be lightweight (5 kg), and its temperature could exceed the ambient temperature by up to 15 &deg, C under operation. A carbon-fiber-based heat source was used to achieve a uniform temperature distribution. A heat shield fabricated from an insulation material was embedded at the opposite side of the heating element to minimize heat loss. A prototype of the blackbody system was fabricated based on the design and transient coupled electro-thermal simulation results. The operation performance of this system, such as the thermal response, signal transfer function, and noise equivalent temperature difference, was evaluated by employing an infrared imaging system. In addition, emissivity was measured during operation. The results of this study show that the developed portable and large-area blackbody system can be expected to serve as a reliable reference source for the calibration of aerial infrared images for the application of aerial infrared techniques to remote sensing.

We applied a simple method to estimate the Minimum Resolvable Temperature Difference (MRTD) of an LWIR and an MWIR camera. A so-called Siemens star, in our case a thin, black aluminum plate framing a circle that is missing (cut out) every other spoke, is mounted in front of a black body whose temperature is relatively close to room temperature. From short recordings of the black body and Siemens star both the Noise Equivalent Temperature Difference (NETD) and the Modulation Transfer Function (MTF) are extracted and a simple estimate of MRTD = NETD/MTF is obtained. The imaged Siemens star almost completely covers the focal plane array; hence, an MRTD curve for the whole array is obtained. We investigated the effect of Non-Uniformity Correction (NUC) and Bad-Pixel Removal (BPX), two often applied pre-processing techniques, on the MRTD estimate. We find that (1) BPX has only limited effect on the result; (2) NUC is required to obtain a good MTF; and (3) NUC is not a prerequisite to obtain a good NETD estimate, but this is contingent on having a proper segmentation tool or template available. Without a segmentation algorithm, NUC together with simple intensity thresholding provides a sufficiently good segmentation and accordingly a good estimate of NETD.

Phase-changing materials are promising due to their sharp temperature dependent characteristics and have high potential of being integrated in optical switching and sensing techniques. Among such materials, vanadium dioxide (VO2) is the most utilitarian because of its transition temperature being close to the room-temperature. VO2-based bolometers utilize the material’s large temperature coefficient of resistivity to detect infrared radiation. However, to achieve large sensitivity, the active radiation absorption area needs to be large enough that allows sufficient temperature buildup from incident radiation absorbed by VO2, thus requiring large pixel dimen- sion and degrading the spatial resolution of bolometric sensing. Moreover, the absorption by the VO2 material is not optimized for a specific frequency band in most of the applications. On the other hand, plasmonic nanos- tructures can be tuned and designed to selectively and efficiently absorb a specific band of the incident radiation for local heating and thermal imaging. In this work, we propose to incorporate plasmonic nanostructures with VO2 nanowires that amplifies the slope of impedance change due to the thermal variations to achieve a higher sensitivity. We present the numerical analysis of the mid-infrared electromagnetic radiation absorption by the proposed detector showing near-perfect absorption by the plasmonic absorbers. Besides, the thermal buildup and the nanowire resistance change is predicted for different substrate, as the substrate plays a big role in heat distribution. We show high sensitivity and ultra-low noise equivalent temperature difference (NEDT) by our novel bolometric detector. We also discuss the fabrication of the VO2.

The MODerate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) is a premier Earth-observing sensor of the early 21st century, flying onboard the Terra (T) and Aqua (A) spacecraft. Both instruments far exceeded their six-year design life and continue to operate satisfactorily for more than 15 and 13 years, respectively. The MODIS instrument is designed to make observations at nearly a 100% duty cycle covering the entire Earth in less than two days. The MODIS sensor characteristics include a spectral coverage from 0.41 to 14.4 $\mu\mbox{m}$ , of which those wavelengths ranging from 3.7 to 14. 4 $\mu\mbox{m}$ cover the thermal infrared region which is interspaced in 16 thermal emissive bands (TEBs). Each of the TEB contains ten detectors which record samples at a spatial resolution of 1 km. In order to ensure a high level of accuracy for the TEB-measured top-of-atmosphere radiances, an onboard blackbody (BB) is used as the calibration source. This paper reports the noise characterization and performance of the TEB on various counts. First, the stability of the onboard BB is evaluated to understand the effectiveness of the calibration source. Next, key noise metrics such as the noise equivalent temperature difference and the noise equivalent dn difference (NEdN) for the various TEBs are determined from multiple temperature sources. These sources include the nominally controlled BB temperature of 290 K for T-MODIS and 285 K for A-MODIS, as well as a BB warm up–cool down cycle that is performed over a temperature range from roughly 270 to 315 K. The space-view port that measures the background signal serves as a viable cold temperature source for measuring noise. In addition, a well characterized Earth-view target, the Dome Concordia site located in the Antarctic plateau, is used for characterizing the stability of the sensor, indirectly providing a measure of the NEdN. Based on this rigorous characterization, a list of the noisy and inoperable detectors for the TEB for both instruments is reported to provide the science user communities quality control of the MODIS Level 1B calibrated product.

This paper presents the design of a current-mode CMOS self-amplified imager operating in dark conditions, for thermal imaging, which provides an innovative solution for precision thermal contact mapping. Possible applications of this imager range from 3D CMOS integrated circuits to the study of in-vivo biological samples. It can provide a thermal map, static or dynamic, for the measurement of temperature microgradients. Some adaptations are required for the optimization of this self-amplified image sensor since it responds exclusively to the dark currents of the photodiodes throughout the array. The sensor is designed in a standard CMOS process and requires no post-processing steps. The optimized image sensor operates with integration times as low as one &mu, s and can achieve both SNR and dynamic range compatible to those of sensors available on the market, estimated as 87dB and 75dB, respectively, noise equivalent temperature difference can be as low as 10mK, and detection errors as low as &plusmn, 1%. Furthermore, under optimal conditions the self-amplification process enables a simple form of CDS, enhancing the overall sensor noise performance.

The III-V material system has proven to be a solid base for building infrared detector focal plane arrays (FPAs), enabling well-established designs such as bulk InSb-photodiodes, GaAs-based quantum well infrared photodetectors (QWIP) and GaSb-based type-II superlattices (T2SL). The remarkable advancement in the sensitivity and stability of such FPAs seen in the past decades calls for revision of the merits and the acceptance criteria used for the performance evaluation of infrared imaging arrays. Specifically, the early skepticism toward QWIP has largely been focused on their low quantum efficiency, and consequently low specific detectivity of the FPA pixels, as compared to the counterparts with bulk design. It was later demonstrated that unrivalled spatial uniformity of QWIP arrays (typically with a residual non-uniformity

Joining their technological skills and strengths, SOFRADIR and ULIS merged in a new High Tech Company named LYNRED. This new company will be oriented towards excellence in II-VI, III-V and bolometers technologies, covering all Society’s needs in term of infrared detection. Nowadays one noticeable trend in infrared market sensors is the optimization of two key metrics: sensor range and image quality. These metrics depend mostly on three criteria: modulation transfer function (MTF), Noise Equivalent Temperature Difference (NETD) and Residual Fixed Pattern Noise (RFPN). MTF improvement was previously achieved by reducing pixel pitch to 30μm [1] to 10μm [2]. NETD and RFPN were improving thanks to a better material quality. The improvement of NETD and RFPN can also be used to increase the operating temperature. The Modulation Transfer Function performance is directly linked to the ability to distinguish objects details and sharpness of the imaging system. MTF value determines, with NETD and RFPN, the system range via the so -called Minimum Resolvable Temperature Range (MRTD). We need to keep in mind that not only MTF has to be optimized but also MRTD, which is very challenging in the context of High Operating Temperature (HOT) and pixel pitch reduction. There are many challenges to be addressed for future small pitch, large format and HOT+ (> 160K) detectors. Electrical and optical crosstalks are one of the prime concerns for detectors with sub-10μm pixel pitch. We will compare several existing materials and their optical and electronic transport properties, elementary sensors designs, such as III-V superlattice, II-VI materials, MESA, loophole, planar and depleted photodiodes. This discussion will be based on measurements on improved HgCdTe 10μm and 7.5μm pitch technology completed by simulation using Finite Element Modelization (FEM) coupled with Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD).

In order to suppress the noise of thermal infrared imaging spectrometer and improve its detection sensitivity, relationship between noise equivalent temperature difference (NETD) and various noise factors was analyzed. Noise of the thermal infrared imaging spectrometer mainly includes the stray light noise defined as nonimaging light scattered by opto-mechanical components’ surfaces and generated by nonworking orders of the grating, the background radiation noise from the opto-mechanical components, and the detector noise. According to the physical mechanism of NETD, the expression containing noise factors of NETD was deduced, and the noise analysis model of the thermal infrared imaging spectrometer was established. An Offner-type imaging spectrometer was taken as an example, whose spectral range is from 8 to 12.5 μm, F number is 2.7, number or spatial channels is 1024, number of spectral channels is 45. And a HgCdTe detector with a D∗ of 4 × 1010 cm Hz1/2 W−1 is used. Relationship between the NETD of this Offner-type spectrometer and its main influencing factors, including cryogenic temperature and optical properties of inwall surfaces of the spectrometer’s mechanical elements, was analyzed. When these parameters are in different value, the proportion of each noise and the main factor affecting NETD are different. Targeted noise suppression methods were proposed for different noise. Usually, background radiation noise is suppressed by cooling the opto-mechanical components and brighten the inwall surfaces. But stray light noise would increase when the inwall surfaces is brightened. Change of NETD with the cryogenic temperature was compared between the inwall surfaces blackened or brightened. When the cryogenic temperature was 90 K, NETD was 0.88 K in both blackened and brightened inwall surfaces case. When the cryogenic temperature was 70 K, NETD was 0.1 K in blackened inwall surfaces case, and 0.52 K in brightened inwall surfaces case. The conclusions have guiding significance for the determination of cryogenic temperature and the inwall surfaces’ optical properties of thermal infrared imaging spectrometer.

Thermal imaging technology is widely used in various fields, such as security, defense, medicine and spaceborne applications in the Geo-synchronous Earth Orbit. Most thermal imaging systems operate in the long-wave infrared (LWIR) range or the medium-wave infrared (MWIR) range. However, the longer the wavelength is, the more difficult the imaging system is to provide high resolution due to diffraction limit. Compared to MWIR and LWIR imagers, a short-wave infrared (SWIR) imager achieves higher resolution owing to its higher diffraction limit. However, radiation from an object at 300 k in the SWIR band is weaker than that in the MWIR and LWIR bands. Therefore, the sensitivity is low. With the rapid development of detector technology, the sensitivity of SWIR detector is improved by low dark current and noise. It exhibits good performance in thermal imaging applications. In order to validate SWIR thermal imaging key performance, this study analyzes the thermal imaging capability of an SWIR imager compared to MWIR and LWIR. The noise equivalent temperature differences (NETDs) of SWIR, MWIR, and LWIR imagers for thermal imaging applications are calculated. A compact SWIR imager prototype covering a spectral range of 2.0–2.7 μm is designed and implemented. The facial thermal imaging experiment proves that the high-sensitivity SWIR imager can obtain high-quality thermal images with an NETD of 24 mK at a temperature of 310 K. In addition, in the continuous integration and multiple read-out (IMRO) imaging mode, the dynamic range of the system is extended by 20 dB. The theoretical analysis and experiment show that the SWIR imager can provide high sensitivity with long integration time. In addition, SWIR thermal imaging can provide higher resolution than MWIR and LWIR imagers. Therefore, SWIR imager has considerable potential for high-sensitivity thermal imaging applications in Geo-synchronous Earth Orbit.

Semi-Conductor Devices’ long-wave infrared 640 × 512/15-μm pitch type II superlattice detector is based on an XBp design with an InAs/GaSb absorbing layer and an InAs/AlSb barrier layer. The barrier architecture ensures a low, diffusion-limited, dark current and allows stable passivation to all fabrication steps. It is shown that the dark current is about 10 times the Rule 07 value and corresponds to a minority carrier lifetime of about 10 ns, while the quantum efficiency can approach within 10% of the HgCdTe value for realistic detector parameters. Detectors are now being manufactured with a reasonable yield for an operability above 99.5%, and a stable and reproducible noise equivalent temperature difference of

This work presents the simulation results and design rules of a new sensor for IR-detection using the thermoelectric effect. Within the Seebeck-effect, thermopiles generate a voltage based on a temperature gradient inside the structure. State of the art thermopiles are manufactured as two-dimensional structures directly on a substrate. Here, a possible method of 3D integration is shown, where the thermoelectric materials are fabricated as thin tubes using an atomic layer deposition (ALD) process. These tubes are connected to an IR-absorber on top, where the IR-radiation causes a temperature gradient relative to the substrate. This has the advantages to achieve a fill factor of nearly 100%. In comparison to microbolometers, the 3D thermopile is a passive structure, which does not need complex readout and supply circuits. Furthermore, the usage of energy harvesting is possible. Additionally, new array circuitry options are discussed to achieve a better signal-to-noise ratio. An electrical series connection of multiple sensors effects a rising specific detectivity and the noise equivalent temperature difference (NETD) decreases analogously. With this technique, groups of pixels of the detector can be merged to one "super-pixel" for detecting even marginal temperature changes of an object.

This letter presents the design, simulation, and fabrication of an uncooled infrared micro-bolometer focal plane array (MBFPA) for multiple digital correlated double sampling (MD-CDS) to reduce a large amount of fixed pattern noise (FPN). A hydrogenated amorphous silicon-based MBFPA is fabricated with $80\times 60$ active cell array and $80\times 9$ proposed warm cell array with a 35- $\mu \text{m}$ pitch. The proposed warm cell can be formed simply by using additional thermal paths on the active cell and it closely matches the properties of the active cell, including thermal conductance and capacitance, resistance, and structure. Averaged reference signals generated by the warm cell array during readout have the same FPN as the active cell without reaction from incident infrared. Experimental results show that FPN is 23% reduced by using the proposed warm cell array and the measured noise equivalent temperature difference referred to $f$ /1.0 is 103 mK after the MD-CDS.

The results of the development of a thermal imaging device based on the FEM10M photodetector produced by the Orion Research and Production Association are presented. As a result of the implementation of measures for improvement of the TPK-Z thermal imaging camera so as to comply with a domestic photodetector, the TPK-ZR thermal imaging device based on a domestic multirow array was developed, tuned, and tested. The minimum allowed temperature difference (MATD) and noise equivalent temperature difference (NETD) characteristics of the device are at least as good as the corresponding characteristics of a thermal imager using a foreign photodetector. The complex of image processing algorithms used in the TPK-ZR device makes it possible to obtain thermal images whose quality is not worse then the quality of the images obtained with the TPK-Z device. Further development of the obtained result can be implementation of a series of measures aimed at achieving full automation of calibration processes in the thermal imager.

The paper reports a 640 × 512 long wavelength infrared focal plane arrays (FPAs) with 15 × 15 μm2 pixels pitch based on the type II InAs/GaSb superlattice. Material grown on a 3 in. GaSb substrate exhibits a 50% cutoff wavelength of 10.2 μm across the entire wafer. The peak quantum efficiency of the detector reaches 28% at 9.1 μm without anti-reflecting coating. Maximal resistance-area products of 8.95 Ω·cm2 at 77 K and 24.4 Ω·cm2 at 45 K are achieved in a single element device indicating that the generation-recombination and tunneling mechanisms dominate the device dark current, respectively. The peak Johnson Detectivity reaches 9.66 × 1011 cm Hz1/2/W at 9.1 μm with the bias voltage of 80 mV. In the whole zone, the operability and non-uniformity for the responsivity are 97.74% and 6.41% respectively. The average noise equivalent temperature difference of 31.9 mK at 77 K is achieved with an integration time of 0.5 ms, a 300 K background and f/2 optics.

The barrier layer in InAs/GaSb LWIR nBn detector is usually composed of AlGaSb alloy, which has a non-negligible valence band offset and is sensitive to chemical solutions. In this work, we investigated a type-II superlattice (T2SL) barrier that is homogeneous with the T2SL absorber layer in order to resolve these drawbacks of the AlGaSb barrier. The lattice mismatch of the T2SL barrier was smaller than that of the AlGaSb barrier. At − 70 m V and 80 K, the dark current density and the noise equivalent temperature difference of the nBn devices with the T2SL barrier were 4.4 × 1 0 − 6 A / c m 2 and 33 mK, respectively.

According to the parameters of various kinds of infrared imaging equipment was performance full automatic detection and evaluation of research in this paper. The evaluation system will to accuracy, slit function (SRF), minimum resolvable temperature difference (MRTD), minimum detectable temperature difference (MDTD) and noise equivalent temperature difference (NETD) and other parameters as the basis, the establishment of infrared imaging evaluation system database, to convergence of digital interface to realize automatic detection and evaluation of infrared imaging device, solving the technical problem of performance evaluation of grid infrared imaging equipment, ensure the accuracy of condition based maintenance for power transmission system.

320 × 256 mid-infrared focal plane arrays, together with linear arrays and single element devices, were fabricated based on type-II InAs/GaSb superlattice. At 77 K, the diode shows 50% cut-off wavelength of 4.8 μm and peak quantum efficiency of 38% at 3.7 μm without any bias dependence. The dominant dark current mechanisms at different temperatures are identified by R0A analysis. At 160 K, R0A of 2.2 × 103 Ω cm2 and specific detectivity of 1.8 × 1011 cm Hz0.5/W are demonstrated. Infrared imaging with an integration time of 5 ms demonstrates noise equivalent temperature difference of 12.3 mK and 34.2 mK, separately at 90 K and 120 K.

Optically immersed bolometer IR detectors were fabricated using electron beam evaporated vanadium oxide as the sensing material. Spin-coated polyimide was used as medium to optically immerse the sensing element to the flat surface of a hemispherical germanium lens. This optical immersion layer also serves as the thermal impedance control layer and decides the performance of the devices in terms of responsivity and noise parameters. The devices were packaged in suitable electro-optical packages and the detector parameters were studied in detail. Thermal time constant varies from 0.57 to 6.0 ms and responsivity from 75 to 757 V W−1 corresponding to polyimide thickness in the range 2 to 70 μm for a detector bias of 9 V in the wavelength region of 14–16 μm. Highest D* obtained was 1.2×108 cmHz1/2 W−1. Noise equivalent temperature difference (NETD) of 20 mK was achieved for devices with polyimide thickness more than 32 μm. The figure of merit, NETD × τ product which describes trade-off between thermal time constant and sensitivity is also extensively studied for devices having different thickness of thermal impedance layers.

The range of applications in which remote detection of chemical compounds is used extends from monitoring of technological processes through diagnostics of industrial installation and environmental control up to military applications. The methods and the devices used for the passive detection of selected gases are presented. The change in the signal reaching the camera caused by the presence of gas was calculated. The successful detection can be achieved if the absorption (or emission) of a gas cloud, located between object (background) and the camera, causes signal change greater or equal to noise equivalent temperature difference (NETD) of the camera.

We present our latest results on cooled p-on-n planar mercury cadmium telluride (MCT) photodiode technology. Along with a reduction in dark current for raising the operating temperature (T op), AIM INFRAROT-MODULE GmbH (AIM) has devoted its development efforts to shrinking the pixel size. Both are essential requirements to meet the market demands for reduced size, weight and power and high-operating temperature applications. Detectors based on the p-on-n technology developed at AIM now span the spectrum from the mid-wavelength infrared (MWIR) to the very long wavelength infrared (VLWIR) with cut-off wavelengths from 5 μm to about 13.5 μm at 80 K. The development of the p-on-n technology for VLWIR as well as for MWIR is mainly implemented in a planar photodetector design with a 20-μm pixel pitch. For the VLWIR, dark currents significantly reduced as compared to ‘Tennant’s Rule 07’ are demonstrated for operating temperatures between 30 K and 100 K. This allows for the same dark current performance at a 20 K higher operating temperature than with previous AIM technology. For MWIR detectors with a 20-μm pitch, noise equivalent temperature differences of less than 30 mK are obtained up to 170 K. This technology has been transferred to our small pixel pitch high resolution (XGA) MWIR detector with 1024 × 768 pixels at a 10-μm pitch. Excellent performance at an operating temperature of 160 K is demonstrated.

XBn or XBp barrier detectors exhibit diffusion-limited dark currents comparable with mercury cadmium telluride Rule-07 and high quantum efficiencies. In 2011, SemiConductor Devices (SCD) introduced “HOT Pelican D”, a 640 × 512/15-μm pitch InAsSb/AlSbAs XBn mid-wave infrared (MWIR) detector with a 4.2-μm cut-off and an operating temperature of ∼150 K. Its low power (∼3 W), high pixel operability (>99.5%) and long mean time to failure make HOT Pelican D a highly reliable integrated detector-cooler product with a low size, weight and power. More recently, “HOT Hercules” was launched with a 1280 × 1024/15-μm format and similar advantages. A 3-megapixel, 10-μm pitch version (“HOT Blackbird”) is currently completing development. For long-wave infrared applications, SCD’s 640 × 512/15-μm pitch “Pelican-D LW” XBp type II superlattice (T2SL) detector has a ∼9.3-μm cut-off wavelength. The detector contains InAs/GaSb and InAs/AlSb T2SLs, and is fabricated into focal plane array (FPA) detectors using standard production processes including hybridization to a digital silicon read-out integrated circuit (ROIC), glue underfill and substrate thinning. The ROIC has been designed so that the complete detector closely follows the interfaces of SCD’s MWIR Pelican-D detector family. The Pelican-D LW FPA has a quantum efficiency of ∼50%, and operates at 77 K with a pixel operability of >99% and noise equivalent temperature difference of 13 mK at 30 Hz and F/2.7.

This paper reports on a study comparing the noise performance of two relatively low-cost microbolometers to a high-grade photon detector as applied to optical lock-in thermography, a well-established broad area non-destructive inspection technique. The photon detector is shown to significantly outperform both microbolometers by margins inconsistent with their noise equivalent temperature detectivity specifications. It is demonstrated that this performance gap can be overcome by increasing observation time or optical illumination intensity. For practical situations in which such steps are plausible microbolometers may provide a viable alternative to photon detectors for optical lock-in thermography. This raises the prospect of applying this method to structural health monitoring, where the generally small size and low capital cost of microbolometers would be advantageous.

Millimeter and submillimeter indium phosphide (InP) microwave monolithic integrated circuits (MMICs) are increasingly used in applications spanning Earth science, astrophysics, and defense. In this paper, we characterize direct detection and heterodyne gain fluctuations of 35-, 30-, and 25-nm gate-length InP MMIC low-noise amplifiers (LNAs) designed for the 200–670-GHz frequency range. Of the twelve MMIC LNAs, five pairs have also been measured in multistage or cascaded configuration. In direct detection mode, the MMICs room temperature (RT) 1/ f noise spectrum and responsivity were measured. From these the power spectral density, the noise equivalent temperature difference (NETD), equivalent system noise temperature (T $^{DD}_{\rm sys}$ ), and low-frequency normalized gain fluctuations ( $\Delta$ G/G ) are derived. On the same set of MMIC LNAs, using a heterodyne down conversion technique, the Allan variance method is applied to obtain the Allan stability time and normalized 4–8 GHz gain fluctuation noise at both RT and two cryogenic temperatures. We find in the case of 35-, 30-, and 25-nm gate-length InP MMIC LNAs that the derived direct detection and heterodyne gain stability is highly process dependent with only a secondary dependence on gate periphery, the number of gate fingers, and/or gain stages. This observation confirms the underlying solid-state physics understanding that gain fluctuation noise is the result of a temporal distribution of the generation and recombination of electron free carriers due to lattice defects and surface impurities. Upon cooling below $\sim$ 66 K, it is observed that on average gain fluctuations increase by $\gtrsim$ 2.2 $\times$ and the Allan stability time decreases by $\sim$ 2.5 $\times$ . The presented measurement results compare favorably to the ALMA system gain specification of $\Delta$ G/G $\le$ 1.4E $-$ 4 from 0.05 $-$ 100 s, and offers guidance for application of InP LNAs for RT and cryogenic direct detection and heterodyne systems.

Infrared thermal imager has developed rapidly in the field of military and civilian applications. How to objectively evaluate the imaging effect of the infrared thermal imager has become a problem that must be solved. Which not only provides quantitative mathematical description for the imaging performance of the infrared thermal imager, but also provides the supporting basis for the study of the image sharpness, target detection distance and target tracking performance of the infrared imaging system. The imaging evaluation system of thermal infrared imager proposed in this paper has the functions of infrared image data acquisition and processing. It is used to test and evaluate infrared image data in coordination with the target system of infrared imaging evaluation (composed of blackbody, radiation target console, collimating optical system and digital display precision turntable). The system has designed the main performance indexes, mathematical model and steps of image evaluation, including image non-uniformity, Signal Transfer Function (SiTF), Noise Equivalent Temperature Difference (NETD) three indicators to evaluate the noise and response characteristics of infrared thermal imager, and Angular Linearity, Target Imaging Positioning Angle Error two indicators to evaluate the image resolution characteristics of infrared thermal imager. After system testing, the performance is very superior and it becomes the necessary debugging and testing equipment in the development of infrared thermal imager.

When a space infrared camera has a higher temperature sensitivity , the more tiny temperature information it can record in the imaging data. High sensitive infrared camera takes an important role in observation of urban and sea targets and so on. A new space infrared camera system is designed based on pixel-level digital accumulation technology. The new infrared camera based on this technology realize the analog-to-digital convert of detecting signals into single detector pixel, which can reduce the noise caused by readout of analog signal markedly. This infrared system processes input signal by little capacitor packet digital-counting method，the integral capacitor plays the part of “voltage-to-frequency conversion”, which vary far from the traditional detector. The signal quantization process realized by the capacitor packet digitalcounting, every single charge packet is small, a capacitor of several fF in new system has the equal effect of a capacitor of thousands pF in traditional system, that makes the new infrared system can break the limit of integral capacitor’s physical restriction. So the new camera has the ability of achieving 1mK(0.001K) temperature sensitivity by theory without saturation electrons restriction. This ultra-high temperature sensitivity infrared camera system will break the temperature sensitivity limits of all infrared cameras on hand, and improve infrared system’s ability of distinguishing the tiny temperature a lot. The prototype camera has been manufactured and it has a 5mK NETD (Noise Equivalent Temperature Difference), the engineering feasibility of this camera system is valid. The pixel-level digital accumulation infrared camera will be an important development direction of future high-sensitivity space infrared camera technique.

This paper reports an InAs/InAsSb strained-layer superlattice (SLS) mid-wavelength infrared detector and a focal plane array particularly suited for high-temperature operation. Utilizing the nBn architecture, the detector structure was grown by molecular beam epitaxy and consists of a 5.5 &micro, m thick n-type SLS as the infrared-absorbing element. Through detailed characterization, it was found that the detector exhibits a cut-off wavelength of 5.5 um, a peak external quantum efficiency (without anti-reflection coating) of 56%, and a dark current of 3.4 &times, 10-4 A/cm2, which is a factor of 9 times Rule 07, at 160 K temperature. It was also found that the quantum efficiency increases with temperature and reaches ~56% at 140 K, which is probably due to the diffusion length being shorter than the absorber thickness at temperatures below 140 K. A 320 &times, 256 focal plane array was also fabricated and tested, revealing noise equivalent temperature difference of ~10 mK at 80 K with f/2.3 optics and 3 ms integration time. The overall performance indicates that these SLS detectors have the potential to reach the performance comparable to InSb detectors at temperatures higher than 80 K, enabling high-temperature operation.

Utilizing a thermomechanical transduction scheme, we have developed an uncooled, sensitive, and fast THz bolometer by using a doubly clamped GaAs MEMS beam resonator as a sensitive thermistor. Owing to its ultra-high temperature sensitivity (the noise equivalent temperature difference of ~1 µK/ ✓ Hz), the present bolometer achieves not only a high sensitivity but also an operation bandwidth of several kHz, which is ~100 times faster than other uncooled THz thermal sensors. The MEMS bolometers are fabricated by the standard semiconductor fabrication processes and are well suited for making detector arrays for realizing THz cameras.

The high instrument noise of the ultra-spectral thermal infrared (Ultra-TIR) spectrometers greatly undermines the accuracy of the retrieved results. As such, the effects of instrument error on the retrieved atmospheric temperature profiles from different spectral-resolution data by a statistical regression model are studied in this paper, aiming to guide the development of Ultra-TIR spectrometers. It is unsurprisingly given that the results from Ultra-TIR data yield the best accuracy with same noise equivalent temperature (NE$\Delta$T). Comparisons between the results from Ultra-TIR data ($.05cm^{-1}$) and High-TIR data (0.5 $cm^{-1}$) is further conducted. When the NE $\Delta$T is up to 1.0 K, the RMSE of retrieval profile from the Ultra-TIR data is higher than that from High-TIR data with 0.2 K NE$\Delta$T in the region of middle troposphere, revealing that the advantage of Ultra-TIR data is impaired. When the NE$\Delta$T is lower (0.5 K), the result from Ultra-TIR data becomes better than the one from High-TIR data with 0.2 K NE$\Delta$T.

In missile applications, decision of optical design is critical for system performance. Many kind of optical solution can be chosen with respect to missile criteria. However, some kinds of limitation coming from system criteria eliminate some of optical design alternative. Also validation of optical design is another subject. Design results from simulation should satisfy reality. Some parameters such as modulation transfer function, noise equivalent temperature difference and field of view should be tested for optomechanical module performance. Also, module range performance capability with automatic target acquisition algorithm match with test results. Starting from the design phase to production results, all process should be tested. To achieve that simulation results from the programs are compared in laboratory environment. Finally laboratory results are compared with missile criteria.

This paper discusses the improved capabilities developed for and results from a new generation of infrared blackbody sources. Over time infrared sensors have evolved from detectors to imagers and recently IR imagers have branched into low cost uncooled sensors and high resolution, high performing arrays. As the IR cameras get better, the performance of the test equipment needs to improve to maintain a 10:1 (goal), 4:1 (minimum) performance advantage. Two tests that rely on the stability of the extended area blackbody source are Noise Equivalent Temperature Difference (NETD) and Minimum Resolvable Temperature Difference (MRTD). The current state of the art for NETD for a cooled camera is

This paper introduces a 160×120 CMOS-based microbolometer array with a 35 μm pixel pitch operating in the 8-12 μm wavelength range, where the detector is fabricated with the LWIR-band CMOS infrared technology, shortly named as CIR, which is a patented novel approach that allows implementing microbolometers with standard CMOS and simple post-CMOS MEMS processes. Post-CMOS processes require only one mask lithography process and simple subtractive etching steps to obtain suspended microbolometer pixels, as opposed to the 8-15 mask deposition and etching processes in the widely used conventional surface micromachined microbolometer approaches that require the use of special high TCR materials like VOx or a-Si. Needing simple subtractive post-CMOS fabrication steps allows the CIR technology to be carried out in any CMOS and MEMS foundry in a truly fabless fashion, where industrially mature and Au-free wafer level vacuum packaging technologies can also be carried out, leading to cost advantage, simplicity, scalability, and flexibility. The implementation of an 80x80 FPA with 35 μm pixel pitch, namely MS0835, using the CIR technology was previously demonstrated, where wafer level vacuum packaged sensors with one side AR coating demonstrated to provide an NETD (Noise Equivalent Temperature Difference) values of 112 mK at 4 fps with f/1.1 optics. As a further study, this paper reports the implementation of the 160×120 FPA with a 35 μm pixel pitch, namely MS1635A using the CIR technology, where a 0.18 μm CMOS process is used. The sensor has a die size of 9.3 mm× 9.1 mm including the area for wafer level vacuum packaging and dissipates less than 50 mW at 30 fps while operating with 3.3V supply. The fabricated sensor is measured to provide a peak NETD of 161 mK, 117 mK, and 89 mK at 17 fps, 11 fps, and 4 fps, respectively, in a dewar environment with f/1.0 optics, i.e., it demonstrates a good performance for high volume low-cost consumer market applications like advanced presence detection and human counting. The CIR approach of MikroSens is scalable with the used CMOS processes, allowing to reduce the pixel pitch even further while increasing the array size and/or improving the sensor performance if necessary for IoT and various other low-cost, high volume markets.