The pressure-dependent performance of a substrate-free focal plane array in an uncooled infrared imaging system

Uncooled focal plane arrays (FPAs) are being developed for a wide range of infrared imaging applications. A substrate-free FPA for optical readout infrared imaging is fabricated with a pixel pitch of 120 μm. The pressure dependences of thermal conductance of a FPA with/without substrate are studied by modeling analysis. Infrared imaging experiments are performed to validate the modeling analysis. At atmospheric pressure the total thermal conductance of the substrate-free FPA is only 1/1000 time of the traditional FPA which has a 2 μm air gap between the cantilever beam and the substrate. Room temperature object's thermal images are obtained even if the FPA is placed in the atmosphere. The air conductance of a substrate-free FPA at atmospheric pressure could be as small as that of a traditional FPA with a substrate in high vacuum (about 1 Pa). The experimental result also shows that the system noise keeps almost unchanged with the pressure. These characters will decrease the vacuum packaging request of the FPA and should be valuable for practical applications.