CAREER: Development of vanadium dioxide-based focal planar arrays

本研究的目的是开发一种新的基于二氧化钒的焦平面阵列技术，能够实现超出当前焦平面阵列技术的理论极限的分辨率和灵敏度水平。该方法是将二氧化钒薄膜与硅晶体管集成，并在待组装的光学读出系统中测试此类器件的阵列。最近的发现表明，二氧化钒涂层硅悬臂梁在涂层过程中表现出突然和大的弯曲？的相变。这种现象将被应用于红外传感技术。初步工作表明，通过利用这种驱动机制，约6倍的灵敏度增加超过理论灵敏度限制的当前技术？根据双压电晶片的热膨胀系数？是可能.薄的二氧化钒膜在室温下不会引起涂覆的压电晶体的弯曲，这消除了与目前使用的双晶压电晶体的平坦度相关的问题。这项变革性的工作揭示了一项新技术，可能会影响其他领域，如微机电执行器。这项工作的更广泛的影响可以在红外传感新技术的开发中找到，该技术提供了当前最先进技术无法实现的分辨率和灵敏度。波多黎各-马亚圭斯大学这项技术的开发将影响该机构的参与者本科生和研究生，因为这将使他们有机会成为这项技术发展的一部分，并首次获得洁净室技术的实践经验。

AbstractThe objective of this research is to develop a new vanadium dioxide-based focal planar array technology capable of achieving resolution and sensitivity levels that are beyond the theoretical limits of current focal planar array technologies. The approach is to integrate vanadium dioxide thin films with silicon cantilevers and test arrays of such devices in an optical readout system to be assembled. Recent discoveries show that vanadium dioxide-coated silicon cantilevers show an abrupt and large bending during the coating?s phase transition. This phenomenon will be applied to infrared sensing technologies. The preliminary work shows that by utilizing this actuation mechanism, an approximately 6-fold increase in sensitivity over the theoretical sensitivity limits of current technologies ? based on thermal expansion coefficient of bimorph cantilevers ? is possible. The thin vanadium dioxide films did not cause bending of the coated cantilevers at room temperature, which eliminates issues related to the flatness of the bimorph cantilevers currently used. This transformative work unveils a new technology that could impact other areas such as micro-electro-mechanical actuators. The broader impacts of this work can be found in the development of a new technology for infrared sensing, that offers resolutions and sensitivities unachievable at the current state-of-the-art. The development of this technology at the University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez will impact participant undergraduate and graduate students in this institution, since it will give them the opportunity to be part of this technology development and have hands-on experience in cleanroom technologies for the first time.