A set of YBa2Cu3O7-delta (YBCO)/SrTiO3 (STO) superlattices has been grown and characterized both by material properties and by heat exchange properties. These superlattices exhibited a critical temperature sensitivity to their period. Stacks of YBCO/STO bilayers with thickness of about 10 nm are proposed to control the thermal link between a top 200 nm thick bilayer and the underlying MgO substrate. A decrease of more than one order of magnitude of the thermal conductance with respect to that of YBCO/substrate reference system is inferred from our measurements. Estimations of possible performances of FIR detectors making good use of this new technique are given both at 90 and 4.2 K, and appear attractive. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.