A digital 25 µm pixel-pitch uncooled amorphous silicon TEC-less VGA IRFPA with massive parallel Sigma-Delta-ADC readout

This paper presents an advanced 640 x 480 (VGA) IRFPA based on uncooled microbolometers with a pixel-pitch of 25μm developed by Fraunhofer-IMS. The IRFPA is designed for thermal imaging applications in the LWIR (8 .. 14μm) range with a full-frame frequency of 30 Hz and a high sensitivity with NETD < 100 mK @ f/1. A novel readout architecture which utilizes massively parallel on-chip Sigma-Delta-ADCs located under the microbolometer array results in a high performance digital readout. Sigma-Delta-ADCs are inherently linear. A high resolution of 16 bit for a secondorder Sigma-Delta-modulator followed by a third-order digital sinc-filter can be obtained. In addition to several thousand Sigma-Delta-ADCs the readout circuit consists of a configurable sequencer for controlling the readout clocking signals and a temperature sensor for measuring the temperature of the IRFPA. Since packaging is a significant part of IRFPA's price Fraunhofer-IMS uses a chip-scaled package consisting of an IR-transparent window with antireflection coating and a soldering frame for maintaining the vacuum. The IRFPAs are completely fabricated at Fraunhofer-IMS on 8 CMOS wafers with an additional surface micromachining process. In this paper the architecture of the readout electronics, the packaging, and the electro-optical performance characterization are presented.