Thermal CMOS Sensors―an Overview

Thermoelectric and Bolometric Infrared Microsensors

“…Today a highly sensitive thermopile sensor setup usually consists of a circular, square, or rectangular receiving area supported in most cases by a membrane substrate (e.g., consisting of a stress-compensated Si 3 N 4 membrane or a SiO 2 aSi 3 N 4 sandwich, of polyimide, or Mylar), which is freely suspended on the bulk frame (e.g., a micromachined Si wafer or a ceramic carrier) used as a heat sink. A 52-element poly-Si/Al thermopile with an internal resistance of 56 k has a responsivity of 58 V/ W, and a time constant of 15 ms [30], a thermopile consisting of 76 elements shows 35.7 k, 33.7 V/ W, and 50 ms [31], while a novel sensor based on n-poly Si/p-poly Si reaches 2.5 M, 96 V/W, 31 ms, and D * 4.5 Â 10 7 cm Hz 1/2 / W [32]. The receiving area is covered by an appropriate absorbing layer (cf.…”

Low-power silicon-based thermal sensors and actuators for chemical applications

“…There is a wide range of materials that can be successfully applied in thermistors [118]. From the candidates for high temperature sensing we selected TiSi 2 on heavily boron (B + ) doped poly-Si.…”

“…Among Figure 1.1: Resolution versus operating temperature for temperature sensors [22]. a variety of thermal CMOS-based sensors [21] thermocouples are the best candidates in terms of the tempera-ture resolution and operating temperature range [22]. However, integration of thermocouples is technologically complex and requires complicated calibration compared to temperature sensitive resistors.…”

Thermoelectric infrared microsensors based on a periodically suspended thermopile integrating nanostructured Ge/SiGe quantum dots superlattice

“…This lSIR structure is designed starting from a balanced arrangement of absorbing and reflecting superficial zones laid on a membrane to circumvent the very high thermal conductivity of silicon substrate which prevents to obtain good performances. 22,23 When the sensor is not irradiated, the absorbing and reflecting areas are kept at the temperature of the ambient atmosphere. When the sensor is irradiated by an IR source, a hot zone is generated under the polyimide absorbent while the temperature of the area located under the gold reflector remains approximately constant.…”