The present disclosure is a infrared sensor capable of being integrated into a IR focal plane array. It includes of a CMOS based readout circuit with preamplification, noise filtering, and row/column address control. Using either a microbolometer device structure with either a thermal sensing element of vanadium oxide or amorphous silicon, a nanocomposite is fabricated on top of either of these materials comprising aligned or unaligned carbon nanotube films with IR trans missive layer of silicon nitride followed by one to five monolayers of graphene. These layers are connected in series minimizing the noise sources and enhancing the NEDT of each film. The resulting IR sensor is capable of NEDT of less than 1 mK. The wavelength response is from 2 to 12 microns. The approach is low cost using a process that takes advantage of the economies of scale of wafer level CMOS.

A monolithically integrated, tunable infrared pixel comprises a combined broadband detector and graphene-enabled tunable metasurface filter that operate as a single solid-state device with no moving parts. Functionally, tunability results from the plasmonic properties of graphene that are acutely dependent upon the carrier concentration within the infrared. Voltage induced changes in graphene's carrier concentration can be leveraged to change the metasurface filter's transmission thereby altering the “colors” of light reaching the broadband detector and hence its spectral responsivity. The invention enables spectrally agile infrared detection with independent pixel-to-pixel spectral tunability.

An example object of the present invention is to provide a bolometer-type detector capable of reducing heat transfer between pixels. A bolometer-type detector according to an example aspect of the present invention includes a plurality of pixels, and at least includes: a substrate, a heat insulating layer provided on the substrate, bolometer films provided on individual pixels on the heat insulating layer, and a wiring for signal output connected to contact electrodes provided in contact with the bolometer films, wherein the wiring for signal output is disposed in a layer different from the bolometer films, and the heat insulating layer between adjacent pixels is removed at least partially in the depth direction and in a region of a length of 50% or longer and a width of 100 nm or wider of a closed curve that surrounds each bolometer film.

A floating bridge structure includes a substrate, a floating bridge layer, and at least one support. The floating bridge layer is on the substrate and substantially parallel to an upper surface of the substrate. The support extends on a vertical surface from the substrate to the floating bridge layer, in which the vertical surface is substantially perpendicular to the upper surface of the substrate.

A floating bridge structure includes a substrate, a floating bridge layer, and at least one support. The floating bridge layer is on the substrate and substantially parallel to an upper surface of the substrate. The support extends on a vertical surface from the substrate to the floating bridge layer, in which the vertical surface is substantially perpendicular to the upper surface of the substrate.

Optical microcavity resonance measurements can have readout noise matching the fundamental limit set by thermal fluctuations in the cavity. Small-heat-capacity, wavelength-scale microcavities can be used as bolometers that bypass the limitations of other bolometer technologies. The microcavities can be implemented as photonic crystal cavities or micro-disks that are thermally coupled to strong mid-IR or LWIR absorbers, such as pyrolytic carbon columns. Each microcavity and the associated absorber(s) rest on hollow pillars that extend from a substrate and thermally isolate the cavity and the absorber(s) from the rest of the bolometer. This ensures that thermal transfer to the absorbers is predominantly from radiation as opposed to from conduction. As the absorbers absorb thermal radiation, they shift the resonance wavelength of the cavity. The cavity transduces this thermal change into an optical signal by reflecting or scattering more (or less) near-infrared (NIR) probe light as a function of the resonance wavelength shift.

A sensing element of an infrared detector including a first absorber configured to form a first set of minority carriers upon receipt of an infrared flux, a collector, a first barrier disposed between the first absorber and the collector, a second absorber configured to form a second set of minority carriers upon receipt of the infrared flux, and a second barrier disposed between the second absorber and the collector. In response to a voltage being applied to the collector, the first and second set of minority carriers are collected at the collector.

A sensing element of an infrared detector including a first absorber configured to form a first set of minority carriers upon receipt of an infrared flux, a collector, a first barrier disposed between the first absorber and the collector, a second absorber configured to form a second set of minority carriers upon receipt of the infrared flux, and a second barrier disposed between the second absorber and the collector. In response to a voltage being applied to the collector, the first and second set of minority carriers are collected at the collector.

The present invention features a novel design for a bolometric infrared detector focused on LWIR range for human body high-resolution temperature sensing. The present invention incorporates an efficient plasmonic absorber and VO.sub.2 nanobeam to facilitate improvement in both aspects—thermal resolution and spatial resolution. The present invention significantly improves the detectivity, NETD, and responsivity for a smaller form-factor detector active area.

The present invention features a novel design for a bolometric infrared detector focused on LWIR range for human body high-resolution temperature sensing. The present invention incorporates an efficient plasmonic absorber and VO.sub.2 nanobeam to facilitate improvement in both aspects—thermal resolution and spatial resolution. The present invention significantly improves the detectivity, NETD, and responsivity for a smaller form-factor detector active area.