Uncooled monolithic ferroelectric IRFPA technology

Once relegated to expensive military platforms, occasionally to civilian platforms, and envisioned for individual soldiers, uncooled thermal imaging affords cost-effective solutions for police cars, commercial surveillance, driving aids, and a variety of other industrial and consumer applications. System prices are continuing to drop, and swelling production volume will soon drive prices substantially lower. The impetus for further development is to improve performance. Hybrid barium strontium titanate (BST) detectors currently in production are relatively inexpensive, but have limited potential for improved performance. The MTF at high frequencies is limited by thermal conduction through the optical coating. Microbolometer arrays in development at Raytheon have recently demonstrated performance superior to hybrid detectors. However, microbolometer technology lacks it mature, low-cost system technology and an abundance of upgradable, deployable system implementations. Thin-film ferroelectric (TFFE) detectors have all the performance potential of microbolometers. They are also compatible with numerous fielded and planned system implementations. Like the resistive microbolometer, the TFFE detector is monolithic; i.e., the detector material is deposited directly on the readout IC rather than being bump bonded to it. Imaging arrays of 240x320 pixels have been produced, demonstrating the feasibility of the technology.