Infrared sensor and infrared sensor array

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12007283-B2
Application number	US-202117347467-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 14, 2021
Priority date	Feb 28, 2019
Publication date	Jun 11, 2024
Grant date	Jun 11, 2024

Abstract

Each of first and second beams has a connection portion connected to a base substrate and a separated portion away from the base substrate, and is physically joined to an infrared receiver at the separated portion. The infrared receiver is supported by the first and second beams, and includes lower electrode, upper electrode, and a resistance change film. The resistance change film is sandwiched by the lower electrode and upper electrode in a thickness direction, each of the lower and upper electrodes is electrically connected to the resistance change film, the lower and upper electrodes are electrically connected to first wiring and second wiring, respectively, at least one electrode selected from the lower electrode and the upper electrode has a line-and-space structure, and an infrared reflection film is provided at a position on a surface of the base substrate facing the infrared receiver.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An infrared sensor comprising:
a base substrate;
a bolometer infrared receiver;
a first beam;
a second beam;
first wiring;
second wiring; and
an infrared reflection film, wherein:
each of the first beam and the second beam has a connection portion connected to the base substrate and/or a member on the base substrate and a separated portion away from the base substrate, and is physically joined to the infrared receiver at the separated portion,
the infrared receiver is supported by the first beam and the second beam to be away from the base substrate,
the infrared receiver includes a lower electrode, an upper electrode, and a resistance change film including a resistance change material an electrical resistance of which changes with temperature,
the resistance change film is sandwiched by the lower electrode and the upper electrode in a thickness direction,
each of the lower electrode and the upper electrode is electrically connected to the resistance change film,
the lower electrode and the upper electrode are electrically connected to the first wiring and the second wiring, respectively,
the lower electrode has a first line-and-space structure,
the upper electrode has a second line-and-space structure,
an alignment direction of the first line-and-space structure and an alignment direction of the second line-and-space structure are different from each other in plan view, and
the infrared reflection film is provided at a position on a surface of the base substrate facing the infrared receiver.

2. The infrared sensor according to claim 1 , wherein
an angle formed by the alignment direction of the first line-and-space structure and the alignment direction of the second line-and-space structure is larger than or equal to 80 degrees and smaller than or equal to 90 degrees.

3. The infrared sensor according to claim 1 , wherein
the alignment direction of the first line-and-space structure and the alignment direction of the second line-and-space structure are orthogonal to each other.

4. The infrared sensor according to claim 1 , wherein
a line width and an interval of at least one of the first line-and-space structure or the second line-and-space structure is smaller than or equal to 1 μm.

5. The infrared sensor according to claim 1 , wherein
each of the lower electrode and the upper electrode includes a metal film, and
an effective sheet resistance of the metal film is larger than or equal to 100Ω/□ and smaller than or equal to 500Ω/□.

6. The infrared sensor according to claim 1 , wherein
the resistance change film includes silicon or vanadium oxide.

7. The infrared sensor according to claim 1 , wherein
the first beam and the second beam include silicon or vanadium oxide.

8. The infrared sensor according to claim 1 , wherein
the first wiring is formed on the first beam, and
the second wiring is formed on the second beam.

9. The infrared sensor according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a first prop and a second prop disposed on the base substrate and extending in a direction away from an upper surface of the base substrate, wherein
the first beam is physically connected to the first prop at the connection portion,
the second beam is physically connected to the second prop at the connection portion,
the infrared receiver, the first beam, and the second beam are suspended over the base substrate by the first prop and the second prop in cross-sectional view,
the first prop and the second prop are electrically conductive,
the first wiring is electrically connected to the first prop, and
the second wiring is electrically connected to the second prop.

10. The infrared sensor according to claim 1 , wherein
the base substrate has a recess,
the recess is positioned between the base substrate and the infrared receiver, the separated portion of the first beam, and the separated portion of the second beam,
each of the first beam and the second beam is physically connected to the base substrate at the connection portion, and
the infrared receiver, the separated portion of the first beam, and the separated portion of the second beam are suspended over the recess of the base substrate in cross-sectional view.

11. The infrared sensor according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a readout integrated circuit (ROIC) inside the base substrate.

12. The infrared sensor according to claim 1 , wherein
a section of the first beam, the section being between a portion joined to the infrared receiver and the connection portion, has a first phononic crystal structure having a plurality of through holes that are orderly arranged, and
a section of the second beam, the section being between a portion joined to the infrared receiver and the connection portion, has a second phononic crystal structure having a plurality of through holes that are orderly arranged.

13. The infrared sensor according to claim 12 , wherein
the first phononic crystal structure includes a first domain and a second domain which are phononic crystal regions,
through holes of the through holes included in the first domain are orderly arranged in a first direction in plan view,
through holes of the through holes included in the second domain are orderly arranged in a second direction in plan view, the second direction being different from the first direction,
the second phononic crystal structure includes a third domain and a fourth domain which are phononic crystal regions,
through holes of the through holes included in the third domain are orderly arranged in a third direction in plan view, and
through holes of the through holes included in the fourth domain are orderly arranged in a fourth direction in plan view, the fourth direction being different from the third direction.

14. An infrared sensor array comprising:
a plurality of infrared sensors arranged in a two-dimensional array, wherein
the infrared sensors include the infrared sensor according to claim 1 .

15. An infrared sensor comprising:
a base substrate;
a bolometer infrared receiver;
a first beam; and
a second beam, wherein:
each of the first beam and the second beam has a connection portion connected to the base substrate and/or a member on the base substrate and a separated portion away from the base substrate, and is physically joined to the infrared receiver at the separated portion,
the infrared receiver is supported by the first beam and the second beam to be away from the base substrate,
the infrared receiver includes a first metal film and a second metal film spaced apart from each other along a thickness direction of the infrared receiver,
the first metal film has a first line-and-space structure, and the second metal film has a second line-and-space structure, and
an alignment direction of the first line-and-space structure and an alignment direction of the second line-and-space structure are different from each other in plan view.

16. The infrared sensor according to claim 1 , wherein at least one of the first line-and-space structure or the second line-and-space structure includes a bus line and a plurality of line patterns extending from one side or both sides of the bus line.

17. The infrared sensor according to claim 1 , wherein at least one of the first line-and-space structure or the second line-and-space structure includes a plurality of line patterns physically and electronically separated from each other.

Assignees

• Panasonic Ip Man Co Ltd

Inventors

• Takahashi Kouhei
• Tambo Naoki
• Nakamura Kunihiko
• Fujikane Masaki
• Naito Yasuyuki

Classifications

• G01J5/0813

  Planar mirrors; Parallel phase plates · CPC title

• H10F39/10

  Integrated devices · CPC title

• H10N19/00

  Integrated devices, or assemblies of multiple devices, comprising at least one thermoelectric or thermomagnetic element covered by groups H10N10/00 - H10N15/00 · CPC title

• G01J2005/206

  on foils · CPC title

• H10N15/00

  Thermoelectric devices without a junction of dissimilar materials; Thermomagnetic devices, e.g. using the Nernst-Ettingshausen effect (integrated devices or assemblies of multiple devices H10N19/00) · CPC title