Fabrication and Characterization of Sensitive Piled Semiconductor Diodes as Mid-Infrared Pyro-Detectors

Abstract:
This work reports on the evaluation of an IR detector based on piled semiconductor diodes used within a mid-IR gas sensor system. Furthermore, the manufacturing process of the device is explained, as well as it is demonstrated by measurement that a concatenation of diodes can provide the necessary temperature sensitivity for the application as an IR detector. Therefore, stating the advantages of CMOS MEMS fabrication leading to a cost-efficient production of the detector-sensor-system and a thermal isolation of the pn-junction array by placing it on a Si3N4 based membrane. A resulting forward bias sensitivity in a range of up to 22.50 mV/K can be observed.