High Sensitivity and Wide Dynamic Range IR Sensors Based on Electrostrictive Effect in Thin Film Barium Strontium Titanate.

基于薄膜钛酸锶钡电致伸缩效应的高灵敏度和宽动态范围红外传感器。

• 批准号: 1407580
• 负责人: Amir Mortazawi
• 金额: $ 36万
• 依托单位: Regents of the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-09-01 至 2017-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1407580&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Sensitivity; Wide; Dynamic; Range; IR

IR and THz sensors are widely used for monitoring the environment and advancing our understanding of nature. They have many applications in healthcare, public safety, security, and scientific instrumentation. For example, early detection and containment of an outbreak is possible by placing IR imaging systems in hospitals and transportation hubs. IR and THz imaging have also shown great promise in the detection of breast cancer, which is estimated to have caused almost 40,000 deaths in the United States in 2011. Other very important application of IR imaging is visibility enhancement for nighttime driving and reducing road-traffic fatalities. Such systems are also especially critical in the rapidly growing industry of autonomous vehicles. IR imaging is used for the detection of wildfires, firefighting, and determining the conditions of crops. Finally, IR and THz remote sensing offer an effective method to detect chemical and biological agents. In addition, to the direct impact of the proposed research outcomes, there will also be broader impacts associated with the field of acoustic wave devices for wireless communications In spite of the numerous applications, many limitations of currently available IR and THz sensors need to be addressed to fully utilize their potential. The objective of the proposed project is to develop a new class of resonant-type uncooled IR sensor array that employs the electrostrictive properties of thin film ferroelectric barium strontium titanate (BST) to exceed the high performance levels that are traditionally associated with cryogenically cooled photon based IR sensors. The PI proposes to involve undergraduates through the Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU). Collaboration with Michigan?s Summer Undergraduate Research in Engineering (SURE) program will also involve undergraduates from under-represented minorities in this research.The proposed resonant mode IR sensors will utilize the large temperature coefficient of frequency versus impedance, high quality factors, and bias voltage dependent piezoelectric response of optimally designed thin film BST film acoustic wave resonators to achieve room temperature operation, high sensitivity, small pixel area, and high resolution images. The research on novel ferroelectric resonant uncooled IR sensors is based on modeling and simulations, material growth and optimization, fabrication and characterization, and finally evaluation of the sensor for IR detection. The proposed research is transformative as it is expected to pave the way for the development of novel low power, high sensitivity, and highly scalable resonant based IR sensors arrays that surpass performance of the state-of-the-art room temperature IR sensors. The basic principle for thin film BST resonant sensors will also be applicable to the development of sensor arrays operational at THz frequency range.

红外和太赫兹传感器被广泛用于监测环境和促进我们对自然的理解。它们在医疗保健、公共安全、安保和科学仪器中有许多应用。例如，通过在医院和交通枢纽放置红外成像系统，可以早期检测和遏制疫情。 IR和THz成像在乳腺癌的检测方面也显示出巨大的前景，据估计，2011年美国有近40，000人死于乳腺癌。红外成像的另一个非常重要的应用是提高夜间驾驶的能见度和减少道路交通死亡人数。这种系统在快速增长的自动驾驶汽车行业中也尤为重要。红外成像用于探测野火、消防和确定作物状况。最后，红外和太赫兹遥感提供了一种有效的方法来检测化学和生物制剂。此外，除了拟议研究成果的直接影响外，还将产生与无线通信声波器件领域相关的更广泛影响。尽管有众多应用，但需要解决目前可用的IR和THz传感器的许多局限性，以充分发挥其潜力。该项目的目标是开发一种新型的谐振型非制冷红外传感器阵列，该阵列采用薄膜铁电钛酸锶钡（BST）的电致伸缩特性，以超过传统的低温冷却光子红外传感器的高性能水平。PI建议通过本科生研究经验（REU）参与本科生。 与密歇根州合作？的暑期本科生工程研究（SURE）计划也将涉及本科生在这项研究中的代表性不足的少数民族。拟议的谐振模式红外传感器将利用大的温度系数的频率与阻抗，高品质因数，和偏置电压依赖的压电响应的最佳设计的薄膜BST薄膜声波谐振器，以实现室温操作，高灵敏度，小像素面积，和高分辨率图像。新型铁电共振非制冷红外传感器的研究是基于建模和模拟，材料生长和优化，制造和表征，并最终评估传感器的红外检测。拟议的研究是变革性的，因为它有望为开发新型低功耗，高灵敏度和高度可扩展的基于谐振的IR传感器阵列铺平道路，这些传感器阵列的性能超过了最先进的室温IR传感器。薄膜BST谐振传感器的基本原理也将适用于在太赫兹频率范围内工作的传感器阵列的开发。