A Scalable Fabrication Process for Liquid Crystal-Based Uncooled Thermal Imagers
A novel sensor is being developed for a new uncooled imager technology that is scalable to large formats (tens of megapixels), which is greater than what is achieved by commercial microbolometer arrays. In this novel sensor, a liquid-crystal transducer is used to change a long-wavelength infrared sc...
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Published in | Journal of microelectromechanical systems Vol. 25; no. 3; pp. 479 - 488 |
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Main Authors | , , , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
New York
IEEE
01.06.2016
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE) |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | A novel sensor is being developed for a new uncooled imager technology that is scalable to large formats (tens of megapixels), which is greater than what is achieved by commercial microbolometer arrays. In this novel sensor, a liquid-crystal transducer is used to change a long-wavelength infrared scene into a visible image that can be detected using a conventional visible imager. This approach has the potential for making a more flexible thermal sensor that can be optimized for a variety of applications. In this paper, we describe the microfabrication processes required to create an array of sealed thermally isolated micro-cavities filled with liquid crystals to be used for an uncooled thermal imager. Experimental results from the fabricated arrays will also be discussed. |
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Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 |
ISSN: | 1057-7157 1941-0158 |
DOI: | 10.1109/JMEMS.2016.2555246 |