Micromachined electron tunneling infrared sensors

Author

Kenny, T.W. ; Kaiser, W.J. ; Podosek, J.A. ; Rockstad, H.K. ; Reynolds, J.K.

Author_Institution

Center for Space Microelectron. Technol., California Inst. of Technol., Pasadena, CA, USA

fYear

1992

fDate

22-25 June 1992

Firstpage

174

Lastpage

177

Abstract

The authors describe the development of an improved Golay cell. This sensor is constructed entirely from micromachined silicon components. In this device, a silicon oxynitride (SiO/sub x/N/sub y/) membrane is deflected by the thermal expansion of a small volume of trapped gas. To detect the motion of the membrane, an electron tunneling displacement transducer is used. An improved infrared sensor in which the cantilever was dispensed with altogether, and the rebalance force from the feedback circuit applied to the membrane directly, is described.<>

Keywords

infrared detectors; micromechanical devices; semiconductor technology; silicon; silicon compounds; transducers; tunnelling; Golay cell; SiO/sub x/N/sub y/; electron tunneling displacement transducer; infrared sensors; membrane; micromachined components; micromechanical devices; thermal expansion; trapped gas; Biomembranes; Electron traps; Force feedback; Force sensors; Infrared sensors; Motion detection; Silicon; Thermal expansion; Transducers; Tunneling;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Solid-State Sensor and Actuator Workshop, 1992. 5th Technical Digest., IEEE

Conference_Location

Hilton Head Island, SC, USA

Print_ISBN

0-7803-0456-X

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/SOLSEN.1992.228298

Filename

228298