Design of a novel uncooled infrared focal plane array

This paper presents the optimized design of a novel Focal Plane Array (FPA) structure for opt-mechanical uncooled infrared imaging system. The FPA structure is a bi-material micro-cantilever array which without Si substrate and with thermal isolation organ. In the paper, we build up series of model to describe the structure's IR absorb, beat exchange and thermal-mechanical characters. To optimize the parameter for a given pixel size (200 mu m x 200 mu m) and certain materials, we have studied the number of deforming cantilever and given out an optimal value. The sensitivity of the optimized structure is calculated out to be 12.2 x 10-3deg/K. which means with the optical readout system we have reported [1], the NETD can get 1.6 mK.