Sub-wavelength bolometers: uncooled platinum wires as infrared sensors

We present characterization results of microscopic platinum wires as bolometers. The wire lengths range from 16 μm down to 300 nm. Thus they are in many cases significantly smaller in size than the wavelength of the radiation from the 1200 K blackbody source they were exposed to. We observe a steep...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inOptics express Vol. 19; no. 9; pp. 8721 - 8727
Main Authors Renoux, Pauline, Jónsson, Sigurdur Aegir, Klein, Levente J, Hamann, Hendrik F, Ingvarsson, Snorri
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States 25.04.2011
Subjects
Equipment Design
Equipment Failure Analysis
Infrared Rays
Platinum - chemistry
Thermography - instrumentation
Transducers
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:We present characterization results of microscopic platinum wires as bolometers. The wire lengths range from 16 μm down to 300 nm. Thus they are in many cases significantly smaller in size than the wavelength of the radiation from the 1200 K blackbody source they were exposed to. We observe a steep rise in both responsivity ℜ and detectivity D* with decreasing wire size, reaching ℜ = 3.1×10(4) V/W and D* = 2.7×10(9) cm Hz(1/2)/W at room temperature for a 300×300 nm(2) device. Two significant advantages of such small wires as bolometers are their low power requirement and fast response time. Our numerical estimations suggest response times in the order of nanoseconds for the smallest samples. They could help improve resolution and response of thermal imaging devices, for example. We believe the performance may be further improved by optimizing the design and operating parameters.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
ISSN:1094-4087
1094-4087
DOI:10.1364/OE.19.008721