Wide-Band Measurements of Antenna-Coupled Microbolometers for THz Imaging

Tamminen, Aleksi; Ala-Laurinaho, Juha; Mallat, Juha; Luukanen, Arttu; Grossman, Erich N.; Raisanen, Antti V.

doi:2010.10.3.132

J. Electromagn. Eng. Sci > Volume 10(3); 2010 > Article

Journal of the Korean Institute of Electromagnetic and Science 2010;10(3):132-137.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5515/JKIEES.2010.10.3.132

Wide-Band Measurements of Antenna-Coupled Microbolometers for THz Imaging

Aleksi Tamminen¹, Juha Ala-Laurinaho¹, Juha Mallat¹, Arttu Luukanen², Erich N. Grossman³, Antti V. Raisanen¹

¹Department of Radio Science and Engineering, MilliLab, SMARAD, Aalto University School of Science and Technology
²MilliLab, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland
³Optoelectronics Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology

Abstract

We present results of room-temperature characterization of lithographically manufactured antenna-coupled NbN micro-bolometers. The bolometers are assembled together with a hyper-hemispherical Si lens to couple the incident radiation to the bolometer from the back-side of the substrate. The bolometers are designed to operate at 300~1,000 GHz and they are characterized at 321~782 GHz. Radiation patterns are measured at 321 GHz, 400 GHz, 654 GHz, and at 782 GHz. The frequency dependency of the beamwidth is studied with several azimuthal beam profile measurements at 321~500 GHz.

Key words: Bolometer, Equiangular Spiral Antenna, Radiation Pattern, Substrate Lens, THz-Imaging