Mechanical and Thermal Modeling of an Uncooled Microbolometer

This paper presents the development of mechanical and thermal modeling of an uncooled microbolometer based on finite-element-method (FEM) simulations. After having mechanical modeling and validation on the cantilever beam structure to be used as supporting arm of the microbolometer, the full microbolometer is modeled and fabricated. Maximum equivalent stress, maximum deformation in different planes, thermal conductance and thermal time constant on the microbolometers are extracted. The simulations show that the chosen microbolometer design shows a very good mechanical stability and performance while it is in a good agreement with the fabricated microbolometer devices.