Abstract
A novel micromachined thermal infrared emitter using a heavily boron doped silicon slab as radiating element is presented. The fabrication process has been designed to allow the integration of such infrared emitters with an array of thermopile infrared detectors, with the aim of achieving an integrated non-dispersive infrared microspectrometer. A first set of infrared emitters with a common size for the doped silicon radiating slab (1,100 × 300 × 8 μm3) has been successfully fabricated and characterized. The working temperature of the Joule-heated radiating slabs has been controlled by means of DC and pulsed electrical signals, achieving temperatures well beyond 700°C. The thermal time constant measured in pulsed operation, around 50 ms, is adequate to enable the direct electrical modulation of the emitted radiation up to a frequency of 5 Hz while maintaining the full modulation depth. The temperature distribution in the radiating elements has been analyzed using two different thermal imaging methods.
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Acknowledgments
This investigation has been supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through projects TEC2007- 67962-C04-01 and TEC2010-20844. C. Calaza would like to thank Ramon y Cajal postdoctoral research program of Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation for financial support.
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Calaza, C., Salleras, M., Sabaté, N. et al. A MEMS-based thermal infrared emitter for an integrated NDIR spectrometer. Microsyst Technol 18, 1147–1154 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00542-012-1459-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00542-012-1459-3