New design enhancements for microbolometer PIR security sensors

The design and development of microbolometer passive infrared (PIR) security sensors at Electro-optic Sensor Design (EOSD) has previously been described at the present and other SPIE forums. The primary object of this patented technology is to provide a higher performance option to current pyroelectric PIR sensors, including longer detection range, detection of developing fire and machinery failure, and imaging capability. A number of other applications have been identified. The EOSD sensor technology employs a novel mosaic-pixel focal plane detector array (MP-FPA), together with purpose-designed optics and electronic readout to achieve high detective performance in low product cost, short range sensor applications. In previous papers emphasis was placed on FPA design for amorphous silicon (a-Si) microbolometers, and other materials were briefly discussed as options. In this paper new MP-FPA designs will be described for further performance enhancement and application to vanadium oxide (VOx) and other silicon alloys, including amorphous Si:Ge. The designs are intended for high volume production in CMOS/MEMS foundries. The performance of different FPA designs is compared for upgrade PIR security sensors and low cost thermal imagers.