Enhanced TCR results of TiOx thin films for uncooled infrared microbolometers

This letter demonstrates the fabrication of TiO
x
thin films on SiO
2
/Si through sputtering for uncooled infrared (IR) microbolometer applications. The effect of oxygen partial (pO
2
) pressure on the electrical properties, temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR), and activation energy of the thermo-sensitive material (TiO
x
) is investigated. Due to the large polarizability of oxygen ions, the thickness of the TiO
x
thin films deposited at higher oxygen partial pressure has been abridged. However, the direct incorporation of oxygen resulted in the compensation of the number of oxygen vacancies of TiO
x
films deposited at 6.S% of pO
2
and achieved the maximum TCR (-2.69 %/K) making it a promising candidate for thermal sensing material for uncooled IR microbolometers.