An analog-to-digital converter and a thermopile array. The analog-to-digital converter comprises: a reference voltage generation circuit comprising a voltage generation unit; a chopping modulation unit used to perform chopping modulation on a voltage signal generated by the voltage generation unit, and to modulate low frequency noise of the voltage signal into high frequency noise; and a low-pass filter used to eliminate the high frequency noise to obtain a reference voltage. The invention employs a simple structure to obtain a low noise reference voltage at low costs.

Methods and systems of heating a substrate in a vacuum deposition process include a resistive heater having a resistive heating element. Radiative heat emitted from the resistive heating element has a wavelength in a mid-infrared band from 5 μm to 40 μm that corresponds to a phonon absorption band of the substrate. The substrate comprises a wide bandgap semiconducting material and has an uncoated surface and a deposition surface opposite the uncoated surface. The resistive heater and the substrate are positioned in a vacuum deposition chamber. The uncoated surface of the substrate is spaced apart from and faces the resistive heater. The uncoated surface of the substrate is directly heated by absorbing the radiative heat.

An infrared temperature sensor comprises a thermopile sensor and an infrared reflector, wherein the infrared reflector reflects the infrared ray radiated by a target to a first thermopile sensing element of the thermopile sensor to sense the temperature of the target. By appropriately designing the reflecting surface of the infrared reflector, a horizontal viewing angle of a sensing range of the infrared temperature sensor can be larger, while a vertical viewing angle is smaller. The thermopile sensor further comprises a second thermopile sensing element, which can sense the thermal radiation of a package structure, whereby to compensate for the measurement error induced by the temperature variation of the package structure, which results from the variation of the environmental temperature. Thus, the measurement accuracy is increased.

An infrared temperature sensor comprises a thermopile sensor and an infrared reflector, wherein the infrared reflector reflects the infrared ray radiated by a target to a first thermopile sensing element of the thermopile sensor to sense the temperature of the target. By appropriately designing the reflecting surface of the infrared reflector, a horizontal viewing angle of a sensing range of the infrared temperature sensor can be larger, while a vertical viewing angle is smaller. The thermopile sensor further comprises a second thermopile sensing element, which can sense the thermal radiation of a package structure, whereby to compensate for the measurement error induced by the temperature variation of the package structure, which results from the variation of the environmental temperature. Thus, the measurement accuracy is increased.

A sensor chip (4) having a pixel unit (8) that detects an infrared ray is bonded to an insulating substrate (2) using a bonding material (3). A heat generation mechanism (11) is integrated with the sensor chip (4). A control unit (14) is provided on the insulating substrate (2) and controls an amount of current to be supplied to the heat generation mechanism (11).

A sensor chip (4) having a pixel unit (8) that detects an infrared ray is bonded to an insulating substrate (2) using a bonding material (3). A heat generation mechanism (11) is integrated with the sensor chip (4). A control unit (14) is provided on the insulating substrate (2) and controls an amount of current to be supplied to the heat generation mechanism (11).

The system is configured to locate, track and/or analyze activities of living beings in an environment. The system does not require the input of personal biometric data. The sensor system detects infrared (IR) energy from a living being moving in an environment, determines a temperature of the living being based on IR energy data of the IR energy, projects the temperature onto a grid having sequential pixels, determines serial changes of the temperature in the sequential pixels and determines a trajectory of the living being based on the serial changes of the temperature in the sequential pixels.

The system is configured to locate, track and/or analyze activities of living beings in an environment. The system does not require the input of personal biometric data. The sensor system detects infrared (IR) energy from a living being moving in an environment, determines a temperature of the living being based on IR energy data of the IR energy, projects the temperature onto a grid having sequential pixels, determines serial changes of the temperature in the sequential pixels and determines a trajectory of the living being based on the serial changes of the temperature in the sequential pixels.

A thermopile sensor including a uniform substrate having a first surface with a first section and a second section at an elevation varying relative to the first section by between about 5 micrometers and about 500 micrometers. The sensor further includes a plurality of thermopile junctions, with each junction having (i) a first strip of a first conductive material, extending from the first section to the second section, (ii) a second strip of a second conductive material, forming an electrical junction with the first strip on the second section and extending to the first section, and (iii) with the thermopile junctions being connected in series. A first contact pad on the substrate is connected to an initial thermopile junction and a second contact pad on the substrate is connected to a last thermopile junction, with conductors connecting to the first and second contact pads and extending off of the substrate.

A far infrared sensor package includes a package body and a plurality of far infrared sensor array integrated circuits. The plurality of far infrared sensor array integrated circuits are disposed on a same plane and inside the package body. Each of the far infrared sensor array integrated circuits includes a far infrared sensing element array of a same size.