Micromechanical bolometers for sub-Terahertz detection at room temperature

Abstract

Fast, room temperature imaging at THz and sub-THz frequencies is an interesting feature which could unleash the full potential of plenty applications in security, healthcare and industrial production. In this Letter we introduce micromechanical bolometers based on silicon nitride trampoline membranes as broad-range detectors, down to the sub-THz frequencies. They show, at the largest wavelengths, room-temperature noise-equivalent-powers comparable to state-of-the-art commercial devices (~100 pW Hz-1/2); adding the good operation speed and the easy, large-scale fabrication process, the trampoline membrane could be the next candidate for cheap, room temperature THz imaging and related applications.

7 pages, 4 figures

References in corpus (2)

• Infrared dielectric properties of low-stress silicon nitride
• Thermal transport and frequency response of localized modes on low-stress nanomechanical silicon nitride drums featuring a phononic bandgap structure

Cited by in corpus (5)

• Uncooled Thermal Infrared Detection Near the Fundamental Limit Using a Nanomechanical Resonator with a Broadband Absorber
• Mechanical mode engineering with orthotropic metamaterial membranes
• Magnetic Trampoline Resonators from (La,Sr)MnO3 Single-Crystal Thin Films
• Enhanced Terahertz Photoresponse via Acoustic Plasmon Cavity Resonances in Scalable Graphene
• High Stability Mechanical Frequency Sensing beyond the Linear Regime