TERAMOS-TERAHERTZ THERMAL SENSOR AND FOCAL PLANE ARRAY
First Claim
1. A device comprising:
- a single crystal silicon-on-insulator (SOI) bulk layer;
the device is characterized by comprising;
at least one thermally isolated Metal Oxide Semiconductor transistor (TeraMOS transistor) with temperature dependent electrical parameters;
an absorption structure for the absorption of terahertz radiation;
electrical and thermal conductors independently connecting said at least one TeraMOS transistor to said single crystal SOI bulk layer; and
CMOS circuitry with readout circuits for sensor signal multiplexing, amplification and processing, wherein said absorption structure absorbs terahertz radiation and heats the at least one TeraMOS transistors transistor that transduces temperature changes into an electrical signal.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A TeraMOS sensor based on a CMOS-SOI-MEMS transistor, thermally isolated by the MEMS post-processing, designed specifically for the detection of THz radiation which may be directly integrated with the CMOS-SOI readout circuitry, in order to achieve a breakthrough in performance and cost. The TeraMOS sensor provides a low-cost, high performance THz passive or active imaging system (roughly in the range of 0.5-1.5 THz) by combining several leading technologies: Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS)-Silicon on Insulator (SOI), Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) and photonics. An array of TeraMOS sensors, integrated with readout circuitry and driving and supporting circuitry provides a monolithic focal plane array or imager. This imager is designed in a commercial CMOS-SOI Fab and the MEMS micromachining is provided as post-processing step in order to reduce cost. Thus the CMOS transistors and technology provide the sensors as well as the signal processing and additional readout circuitry both in the pixels as well as around the sensor array.
36 Citations
34 Claims
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1. A device comprising:
- a single crystal silicon-on-insulator (SOI) bulk layer;
the device is characterized by comprising;
at least one thermally isolated Metal Oxide Semiconductor transistor (TeraMOS transistor) with temperature dependent electrical parameters;
an absorption structure for the absorption of terahertz radiation;
electrical and thermal conductors independently connecting said at least one TeraMOS transistor to said single crystal SOI bulk layer; and
CMOS circuitry with readout circuits for sensor signal multiplexing, amplification and processing, wherein said absorption structure absorbs terahertz radiation and heats the at least one TeraMOS transistors transistor that transduces temperature changes into an electrical signal. - View Dependent Claims (3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 34)
- a single crystal silicon-on-insulator (SOI) bulk layer;
- 2. (canceled)
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6. (canceled)
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20. The device of claim 73, wherein said perforated platform is thinner than the at least one TeraMOS transistor cross-section, such that said perforated platform contributes lower thermal mass.
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27. A method for producing a device, the method comprising:
- providing a single crystal silicon-on-insulator (SOI) bulk layer;
providing at least one thermally isolated Metal Oxide Semiconductor (TeraMOS) transistors with temperature dependent electrical parameters;
providing electrical and thermal conductors independently connecting the at least one TeraMOS transistors to said single crystal SOI bulk layer;
providing an absorption structure for the absorption of terahertz radiation; and
providing CMOS circuitry with readout circuits for sensor signal multiplexing, amplification and processing, wherein the absorption structure is arranged to absorb terahertz radiation and to heat the at least one TeraMOS transistor that is arranged to transduce temperature changes into an electrical signal. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
- providing a single crystal silicon-on-insulator (SOI) bulk layer;
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33. A method for sensing terahertz radiation, the method comprises:
providing a device that comprises a single crystal silicon-on-insulator (SOI) bulk layer;
at least one thermally isolated Metal Oxide Semiconductor (TeraMOS) transistor with temperature dependent electrical parameters;
electrical and thermal conductors independently connecting the at least one TeraMOS transistors to said single crystal SOI bulk layer;
an absorption structure for the absorption of terahertz radiation; and
providing CMOS circuitry with readout circuits for sensor signal multiplexing, amplification and processing, wherein the absorption structure is arranged to absorb terahertz radiation and to heat the at least one TeraMOS transistor that is arranged to transduce temperature changes into an electrical signal;
absorbing the terahertz radiation and heating the at least one TeraMOS transistor in response to the absorbing of the terahertz radiation, by the absorption structure; and
transducing, by the at least one TeraMOS transistor, temperature changes resulting from the heating of the at least one TeraHertz transistor into an electrical signal.
Specification