Metal-organic hybrid metamaterial THz imaging band translators

Abstract

We investigate the feasibility of negative photoresist as a structural material in metal-organic hybrid THz imaging detectors using SU-8. We will discuss design of metamaterials for MEMS-based terahertz (THz) thermal sensors and design and microfabrication process for building SU8-based MEMS THz focal plane arrays. Metamaterials of this kind, exhibiting absorption properties comparable to those of resonant metamaterials made using traditional thin films, coupled with the applicability of SU-8 as a structural material, offer possibilities for quick, simple microfabrication of focal plane arrays of THz imaging detectors. SU-8 is a low-cost material that can quickly be spun onto a substrate at a wide range of thicknesses and photolithographically patterned into a variety of structures. This removes the need for both PECVD deposition and plasma etching, dramatically increasing the speed and lowering the cost of production of such FPAs. We further investigate feasibility of use of such detectors as band translators rather than traditional bimaterial devices. Translators would be optically probed with an infrared (IR) camera. Individual pixels would absorb THz radiation, heat up and the thermal image would be projected onto an infrared camera, effectively translating the image from THz into IR.