STTR Phase I: Antenna Based Infrared Imagers

This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I research project will develop uncooled antenna coupled microbolometer infrared sensors with improved performance. Antenna coupling provides great flexibility in designing the wavelength, band width, and polarization response through simple changes in antenna geometry. Prior designs for antenna coupled bolometers forced tradeoffs between the antenna feed point impedance and the bolometer material responsivity, resulting in sub optimal performance. This project will demonstrate a novel design that allows independent optimization of the antenna impedance and bolometer responsivity. Single antenna coupled microbolometer pixels with improved performance will be fabricated for quantitative measurement of the noise and detectivity. Reduced pixel mass with antenna designs will give faster operating speeds and better sensitivity. If successful, the proposed effort to make improved antenna based infrared sensors will provide a significant advancement in the state of the art in terms of sensitivity and response time. This would have a tremendous impact on existing applications in uncooled infrared imaging, but more importantly, it would enable new functionalities and applications that are not presently possible in fields from medicine and domestic security to scientific measurements. Success with this project will attract tremendous interest across a broad range of high tech industries. The company's collaboration with the University of Central Florida will ensure the involvement of undergraduate and graduate students in the development and the publication of significant results. Close collaboration between the industrial and university partners will provide the students with valuable insight into the requirements of industrial research and development.