Noise Improvement of a-Si Microbolometers by the Post-Metal Annealing Process
To realize high-resolution thermal images with high quality, it is essential to improve the noise characteristics of the widely adopted uncooled microbolometers. In this work, we applied the post-metal annealing (PMA) process under the condition of deuterium forming gas, at 10 atm and 300 °C for 30...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-10-01
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| Series: | Sensors |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/21/20/6722 |
| _version_ | 1797513182216978432 |
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| author | Jaesub Oh Hyeong-sub Song Jongcheol Park Jong-Kwon Lee |
| author_facet | Jaesub Oh Hyeong-sub Song Jongcheol Park Jong-Kwon Lee |
| author_sort | Jaesub Oh |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | To realize high-resolution thermal images with high quality, it is essential to improve the noise characteristics of the widely adopted uncooled microbolometers. In this work, we applied the post-metal annealing (PMA) process under the condition of deuterium forming gas, at 10 atm and 300 °C for 30 min, to reduce the noise level of amorphous-Si microbolometers. Here, the DC and temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) measurements of the devices as well as <i>1/f</i> noise analysis were performed before and after the PMA treatment, while changing the width of the resistance layer of the microbolometers with 35 μm or 12 μm pixel. As a result, the microbolometers treated by the PMA process show the decrease in resistance by about 60% and the increase in TCR value up to 48.2% at 10 Hz, as compared to the reference device. Moreover, it is observed that the noise characteristics are improved in inverse proportion to the width of the resistance layer. This improvement is attributed to the cured poly-silicon grain boundary through the hydrogen passivation by heat and deuterium atoms applied during the PMA, which leads to the uniform current path inside the pixel. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T06:13:04Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-2be2866ce5454c998394b81b2c56434f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1424-8220 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T06:13:04Z |
| publishDate | 2021-10-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Sensors |
| spelling | doaj.art-2be2866ce5454c998394b81b2c56434f2023-11-22T19:56:25ZengMDPI AGSensors1424-82202021-10-012120672210.3390/s21206722Noise Improvement of a-Si Microbolometers by the Post-Metal Annealing ProcessJaesub Oh0Hyeong-sub Song1Jongcheol Park2Jong-Kwon Lee3Division of Nano Convergence Technology, National NanoFab Center, Daejeon-si 34141, KoreaFoundry Business, Samsung Electronics Co., Suwon-si 18448, KoreaDivision of Nano Convergence Technology, National NanoFab Center, Daejeon-si 34141, KoreaDivision of Energy and Optical Technology Convergence, Cheongju University, Cheongju-si 28503, KoreaTo realize high-resolution thermal images with high quality, it is essential to improve the noise characteristics of the widely adopted uncooled microbolometers. In this work, we applied the post-metal annealing (PMA) process under the condition of deuterium forming gas, at 10 atm and 300 °C for 30 min, to reduce the noise level of amorphous-Si microbolometers. Here, the DC and temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) measurements of the devices as well as <i>1/f</i> noise analysis were performed before and after the PMA treatment, while changing the width of the resistance layer of the microbolometers with 35 μm or 12 μm pixel. As a result, the microbolometers treated by the PMA process show the decrease in resistance by about 60% and the increase in TCR value up to 48.2% at 10 Hz, as compared to the reference device. Moreover, it is observed that the noise characteristics are improved in inverse proportion to the width of the resistance layer. This improvement is attributed to the cured poly-silicon grain boundary through the hydrogen passivation by heat and deuterium atoms applied during the PMA, which leads to the uniform current path inside the pixel.https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/21/20/6722microbolometeramorphous Sinoise characteristicmetal annealingdeutrium |
| spellingShingle | Jaesub Oh Hyeong-sub Song Jongcheol Park Jong-Kwon Lee Noise Improvement of a-Si Microbolometers by the Post-Metal Annealing Process Sensors microbolometer amorphous Si noise characteristic metal annealing deutrium |
| title | Noise Improvement of a-Si Microbolometers by the Post-Metal Annealing Process |
| title_full | Noise Improvement of a-Si Microbolometers by the Post-Metal Annealing Process |
| title_fullStr | Noise Improvement of a-Si Microbolometers by the Post-Metal Annealing Process |
| title_full_unstemmed | Noise Improvement of a-Si Microbolometers by the Post-Metal Annealing Process |
| title_short | Noise Improvement of a-Si Microbolometers by the Post-Metal Annealing Process |
| title_sort | noise improvement of a si microbolometers by the post metal annealing process |
| topic | microbolometer amorphous Si noise characteristic metal annealing deutrium |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/21/20/6722 |
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