A SiGe microbolometer interface for low-power microcontrolled applications

This paper presents a conditioning system for an amorphous silicon germanium (a-SiGe:H, B) microbolometer array for detection of heat sources in low-power sensing systems. It mainly consists of an amplification and switching circuit that adapts the small signal provided by the resistive microbolometer cell connected in a Wheatstone bridge to a voltage signal which can be easily read by a microcontroller. The low energy consumption of the proposed system makes it compatible with wireless sensor network applications.