Optoelectronics

Grid-Eye: Thermal imaging solution

8th March 2017
Lanna Deamer
0

Recently, the progress of uncooled infrared (IR) sensors has been remarkable due to microelectronic systems (MEMS)- based pixel structure, in which free-standing thermal isolation structures are adopted with thin film IR absorbers.

Many applications are being developed, such as thermography, human detection, night vision and so on. Quantifi cation of this energy allows users to determine the temperature and thermal behaviour of objects.

Infrared thermal sensing and imaging instruments make it possible to measure and map surface temperature and thermal distribution passively and non intrusively. Infrared radiation is emitted by all objects with a temperature above absolute zero. For an object that has “no colour”, which means, no wavelength is selectively emitted or absorbed, the radiation spectrum is completely determined by the temperature alone. With rising temperature, the intensity at every wavelength of the radiation spectrum increases as well. This means that one can remotely determine the temperature of a body or object by measuring its radiated power. Infrared (IR) detectors fall into two main categories, thermal and photon.

In this class of detectors, the radiation is absorbed within the material by interaction with electrons. The observed electrical output signal results from the changed electronic energy distribution. The photon detectors show a selective wavelength dependence of the response per unit incident radiation power. They exhibit both perfect signal-to-noise performance and a very fast response. But to achieve this, the photon detectors require cryogenic cooling. Cooling requirements are the main obstacle to the more widespread use of IR systems based on semiconductor photodetectors making them bulky, heavy, expensive and inconvenient to use.

View the full whitepaper below.

Featured products

Upcoming Events

View all events
Newsletter
Latest global electronics news
© Copyright 2024 Electronic Specifier