Microbolometer Terahertz Focal Plane Array and Camera with Improved Sensitivity in the Sub-Terahertz Region

A pixel in an uncooled microbolometer terahertz (THz) focal plane array (FPA) has a suspended structure above read-out integrated circuit (ROIC) substrate. An optical cavity structure is formed between a thin metallic layer deposited on the suspended structure and a thick metallic layer deposited on the ROIC surface. The geometrical optical cavity length for our previous pixel structure, 3-4 mu m, is extended three times, so that responsivity can be increased in the sub-THz region. This modification is carried out by depositing a thick SiN layer on the thick metallic layer. The modified pixel structure is applied to 640 x 480 and 320 x 240 THz-FPAs with 23.5 mu m pixel pitch. Minimum detectable powers per pixel (MDP) are evaluated for these FPAs at 4.3, 2.5, 0.6, and 0.5 THz, and the MDP values are found to be improved by a factor of ten at 0.6 and 0.5 THz. The MDP values of the THz-FPAs developed in this work are compared with those of other THz detectors, such as uncooled antenna-coupled CMOS (complimentary metal-oxide semiconductor) THz-FPAs and cooled bolometer arrays. It is found that our THz-FPAs are more sensitive in the sub-THz region than the CMOS THz-FPAs, while they are much less sensitive than the cooled bolometer arrays. These THz-FPAs are incorporated into a 640 x 480 THz camera and 320 x 240 THz camera, and imaging equipment is developed. The equipment consists of a linearly polarized sub-THz source, a collimator lens, a beam homogenizer, two wire grids, a quarter-wave plate, and two THz cameras, and sub-THz images are demonstrated. It should be mentioned for the equipment that imaging of transmission and reflection is realized by moving only the quarter-wave plate, and the reflection image is taken along a direction normal to a sample surface so that the reflection image is hardly deformed.