Developing a robust sensor for infrared imaging bolometers

A new type of large area sensor for infrared imaging bolometers has been developed. It replaces the thin and fragile free-standing metal foils, which typically have been used, with a multi-layer coated sapphire (or diamond) substrate. Sapphire is transparent to mid-infrared wavelengths, is robust against transients, and can be thick enough to even be the vacuum window. The primary radiation absorber is still a thin deposited metal layer, but now it is partially insulated from the supporting sapphire substrate by a black (carbon-based) layer, which also acts as a blackbody remitter. Test results indicate 6× more noise equivalent power density (estimated NEPD = 23 W/m2 at 5 ms camera exposure time, foil temperature decay time 60 ms) for a 2 μm gold-coated sapphire disk compared to estimated NEP = 4 W/m2 at 1.8 ms exposure time, with foil decay time 420 ms, for a nominal 2.5 μm thick platinum-free-standing foil.