A new uncooled thermal IR detector using silicon diode

A new thermal infrared detector using temperature characteristics of a diode is proposed and developed. Micromachined isolated silicon diode for IR detection (MISIR) utilizes electrochemical etching technique to achieve the thermal isolation of the diode. Very high dependence on the junction temperature of the diode enables high responsivity of the MISIR and electrochemical etching provides effective isolation with simple and low-cost process. The fabricated MISIR exhibits the detectivity of 1.2/spl times/10/sup 10/ (cm Hz/sup 1/2 //W) under air ambient at room temperature.