Microbolometer technology using serial pn-diodes

A fabrication process for a thermo-diode microbolometer array is presented. The process is based on a sintered porous silicon (sPS) technique adopted from Chipfilm™ technology to enable vertical thermal insulation of the pixels. In addition, the process offers the possibility to have more than one diode per pixel connected in series. It is demonstrated that this boosts the temperature sensitivity of the device.