Infrared sensor operable without cooling
First Claim
1. An infrared sensor comprisinga supporting substrate,a thermally insulating layer formed on said substrate,a sensor thin film comprising pyroelectric material formed on said thermally insulating layer and thermally insulated from said substrate,a reference thin film comprising pyroelectric material thermally coupled to said substrate, andpyroelectric signal sensing circuitry for comparing the capacitance of said reference thin film and said sensor thin film.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An infrared sensor operable without cooling and thus usable at room temperature comprises a substrate supporting thin films of pyroelectric material and switched capacitor control circuitry. The control circuitry compares the absolute capacitance of a reference thin film to that of a sensor thin film, thereby sensing infrared radiation without the use of a chopper device. The reference thin film is thermally coupled to the substrate, and the sensor thin film is thermally insulated form the substrate. To increase the fill factor, the sensor thin film is placed directly above the control circuitry. In another apsect, the sensor is adpated to sense visible and infrared light by adding a CCD sensor and appropriate control circuitry to the substrate.
41 Citations
11 Claims
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1. An infrared sensor comprising
a supporting substrate, a thermally insulating layer formed on said substrate, a sensor thin film comprising pyroelectric material formed on said thermally insulating layer and thermally insulated from said substrate, a reference thin film comprising pyroelectric material thermally coupled to said substrate, and pyroelectric signal sensing circuitry for comparing the capacitance of said reference thin film and said sensor thin film.
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7. A combination infrared and visible light room-temperature sensor array comprising
a supporting semiconductor substrate, a thermally insulating layer formed on said substrate, an array of infrared-light sensor thin films comprising pyroelectric material formed on said thermally insulating layer and thermally insulated from said substrate, an array of visible-light sensors comprising charge coupled devices formed in said substrate, the charge coupled devices of said second array interleaved on the surface of said substrate with the pyroelectric thin films of said first array, and sensing circuitry formed in said substrate for detecting and amplifying electric signals from said infrared and visible-light sensors.
Specification