Temperature sensitivity modeling of pn-junction diodes for microbolometer-based thermal imaging applications

A model for the electrical behavior of pn-junction diodes biased in forward direction and used as a temperature sensitive device (TSD) in microbolometers is presented. It is based on the well-known Shockley equation extended by the ideality factor m. We demonstrate that the largest temperature sensitivity can be reached for diodes at low current density operation featuring a high ideality factor m > 1.