Anodic Aluminum Oxide-Based IR Emitter for High-Speed Infrared Scene Projector

Infrared scene projector (IRSP) is a tool for evaluating the performance of infrared (IR) sensors by generating and projecting virtual IR images. Developing IRSPs with a high frame rate is necessary to evaluate high-speed IR sensors. To develop IRSPs with high frame rates, porous anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) with high thermal conductivity is proposed as a constituent material of IR emitters, which emit infrared rays in IRSPs. Through structure design and fabrication, an AAO-based IR emitter having a suspended structure with a gap of 1 μm from the substrate was fabricated. The operating speed was obtained by confirming the change in the temperature, which was calculated by measuring the change in resistance after applying the step-function voltage. The operating speed of the AAO-based IR emitter was found to increase with decrease in the leg length of the device. The frame rate of the device with a 5 μm leg length was found to be 155.3 Hz, twice as fast as the conventional silicon nitride (Si
₃
N
₄
)-based emitters with the same leg length and pitch. Consequently, it is possible to develop the high-speed IRSPs with the application of AAO for emitter.