Device and method of forming a device are disclosed. The device includes a substrate with a transistor component disposed in a transistor region and a micro-electrical mechanical system (MEMS) component disposed on a membrane over a lower sensor cavity in a hybrid region. The MEMS component serves as thermoelectric-based infrared sensor, a thermopile line structure which includes an absorber layer disposed over a portion of oppositely doped first and second line segments. A back-end-of-line (BEOL) dielectric is disposed on the substrate having a plurality of inter layer dielectric (ILD) layers with metal and via levels. The ILD layers include metal lines and via contacts for interconnecting the components of the device. The metal lines in the metal levels are configured to define a BEOL or an upper sensor cavity over the lower sensor cavity, and metal lines of a first metal level of the BEOL dielectric are configured to define a geometry of the MEMS component.

Device and method of forming a device are disclosed. The device includes a substrate with a transistor component disposed in a transistor region and a micro-electrical mechanical system (MEMS) component disposed on a membrane over a lower sensor cavity in a hybrid region. The MEMS component serves as thermoelectric-based infrared sensor, a thermopile line structure which includes an absorber layer disposed over a portion of oppositely doped first and second line segments. A back-end-of-line (BEOL) dielectric is disposed on the substrate having a plurality of inter layer dielectric (ILD) layers with metal and via levels. The ILD layers include metal lines and via contacts for interconnecting the components of the device. The metal lines in the metal levels are configured to define a BEOL or an upper sensor cavity over the lower sensor cavity, and metal lines of a first metal level of the BEOL dielectric are configured to define a geometry of the MEMS component.

Device and method of forming the devices are disclosed. The method includes providing a substrate prepared with transistor and sensor regions. The substrate is processed by forming a lower sensor cavity in the substrate, filling the lower sensor cavity with a sacrificial material, forming a dielectric membrane in the sensor region, forming a transistor in the transistor region and forming a micro-electrical mechanical system (MEMS) component on the dielectric membrane in the sensor region. The method continues by forming a back-end-of-line (BEOL) dielectric having a plurality of interlayer dielectric (ILD) layers with metal and via levels disposed on the substrate for interconnecting the components of the device. The metal lines in the metal levels are configured to define an upper sensor cavity over the lower sensor cavity, and metal lines of a first metal level of the BEOL dielectric are configured to define a geometry of the MEMS component.

An electrical safety device is described which includes a socket arranged to receive an electrical plug of an electrical appliance to connect a current supply to the electrical appliance, a thermal sensor arranged to detect the surface temperature of an electrical plug when received in the socket and a processor in communication with the thermal sensor, the processor configured to determine when the sensed surface temperature exceeds a predetermined threshold. The invention also includes an electrical safety system comprising the electrical safety device configured to communicate with a remote device. The device and system provide early detection of electrical faults and hazards to reduce the risk of fires.

A thermal imaging system comprises a substrate, stacked graphene arrays on the substrate, and a number of bandpass filters separating the stacked graphene arrays.

A thermal infrared sensor array in a wafer-level package includes at least one infrared-sensitive pixel produced using silicon micro mechanics, comprising a heat-isolating cavity in a silicon substrate surrounded by a silicon edge, and a thin membrane connected to the silicone edge by of thin beams. The cavity extends through the silicon substrate to the membrane, and there are slots between the membrane, the beams and the silicon edge. A plurality of infrared-sensitive individual pixels are arranged in lines or arrays and are designed in a CMOS stack in a dielectric layer, forming the membrane, and are arranged between at least one cover wafer which is designed in the form of a cap and has a cavity and a base wafer. The cover wafer, the silicon substrate and the base wafer are connected to one another in a vacuum-tight manner and enclosing a gas vacuum.

A controller comprising: an output for controlling one or more outdoor lighting device to illuminate an outdoor environment; an input for receiving temperature information from a temperature sensor comprising a plurality of temperature sensing elements; and a control module. The control module is configured to: use the temperature information received from the temperature sensor to detect motion in a sensing region of the temperature sensor and control the one or more lighting device based on the detected motion, and additionally use the temperature information received from the temperature sensor to detect conditions of the environment in the sensing region and further control the one or more lighting device based on the detected conditions.

We disclose herein a thermal IR detector array device comprising a dielectric membrane, supported by a substrate, the membrane having an array of IR detectors, where the array size is at least 3 by 3 or larger, and there are tracks embedded within the membrane layers to separate each element of the array, the tracks also acting as heatsinks and/or cold junction regions.

A communication apparatus that includes an antenna array comprising a plurality of antenna elements, a plurality of thermoelectric devices distributed across the plurality of antenna element of the antenna array, each of the plurality of thermoelectric devices covers a different subset of a plurality of subsets of the plurality of antenna elements, and a processor coupled to the antenna array and the plurality of thermoelectric devices. The processor detects variation in power consumption in the plurality of antenna elements of the antenna array on a basis of a change in a performance state of the plurality of antenna elements, and controls the plurality of thermoelectric devices to substantially equalize a temperature associated with the plurality of antenna elements for substantial equalization of the performance state of the plurality of antenna elements, where the plurality of thermoelectric devices is controlled based on the detected variation in the power consumption.

Provided is a thermal type detection element that enables high sensitivity and high speed response while reducing the size of the element.

A thermoelectric conversion element 10 includes: a substrate 11; a thin film thermoelectric conversion layer 12 that is stacked on the substrate 11; a first electrode 13 on a high temperature side that is disposed on one surface of the thermoelectric conversion layer 12; a second electrode 15 on a low temperature side that is disposed on the other surface of the thermoelectric conversion layer 12; and an absorption layer 18 that is stacked in contact with the one surface of the thermoelectric conversion layer 12 and absorbs heat received from the outside. In the thermoelectric conversion element 10, the one surface is an upper surface of the thermoelectric conversion layer 12, the other surface is a lower surface of the thermoelectric conversion layer 12, the first electrode 13 is disposed at a contact surface between a lower surface of the absorption layer 18 and the upper surface of the thermoelectric conversion layer 12, and the second electrode 15 is disposed at a contact surface between the lower surface of the thermoelectric conversion layer 12 and a front surface of the substrate.