CAREER: Development of vanadium dioxide-based focal planar arrays

摘要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，该技术的分辨率和灵敏度水平超过了当前焦平面阵列技术的理论极限。该方法是将二氧化钒薄膜与硅悬臂和测试阵列集成在一个待组装的光学读出系统中。最近的发现表明，二氧化钒包覆的硅悬臂梁在包覆过程中表现出突然而大的弯曲。S相变。这一现象将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，灵敏度比当前技术的理论灵敏度极限提高了约6倍。基于双晶圆悬臂梁的热膨胀系数？是可能的。在室温下，薄二氧化钒薄膜不会引起涂层悬臂梁的弯曲，从而消除了目前使用的双晶圆悬臂梁的平面性问题。这项变革性的工作揭示了一项可能影响其他领域的新技术，如微机电致动器。这项工作的更广泛影响可以在红外传感新技术的发展中找到，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。这项技术在波多黎各-马亚圭斯大学的发展将影响该机构的本科生和研究生，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.