Thermal IR detection with nanoelectromechanical silicon nitride trampoline resonators

Abstract

Nanoelectromechanical (NEMS) resonators are promising uncooled thermal infrared (IR) detectors to overcome existing sensitivity limits. Here, we investigated nanoelectromechanical trampoline resonators made of silicon nitride (SiN) as thermal IR detectors. Trampolines have an enhanced responsivity of more than two orders of magnitude compared to state-of-the-art SiN drums. The characterized NEMS trampoline IR detectors yield a sensitivity in terms of noise equivalent power (NEP) of 5 pW/ √ Hz and a thermal response time as low as 4 ms. The detector area features an impedance-matched metal thin-film absorber with a spectrally flat absorption of 50% over the entire mid-IR spectral range from 1 µm to 25 µm.