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Review
. 2018 Oct 31;18(11):3714.
doi: 10.3390/s18113714.

Nano-Antenna Coupled Infrared Detector Design

Mohamed H Mubarak  1 , Othman Sidek  2 , Mohamed R Abdel-Rahman  3 , Mohd Tafir Mustaffa  4 , Ahmad Shukri Mustapa Kamal  5 , Saad M Mukras  6
Affiliations
Review

Nano-Antenna Coupled Infrared Detector Design

Mohamed H Mubarak et al. Sensors (Basel). .

Abstract

Since the 1940s, infrared (IR) detection and imaging at wavelengths in the two atmospheric windows of 3 to 5 and 8 to 14 μm has been extensively researched. Through several generations, these detectors have undergone considerable developments and have found use in various applications in different fields including military, space science, medicine and engineering. For the most recently proposed generation, these detectors are required to achieve high-speed detection with spectral and polarization selectivity while operating at room temperature. Antenna coupled IR detectors appear to be the most promising candidate to achieve these requirements and has received substantial attention from research in recent years. This paper sets out to present a review of the antenna coupled IR detector family, to explore the main concepts behind the detectors as well as outline their critical and challenging design considerations. In this context, the design of both elements, the antenna and the sensor, will be presented individually followed by the challenging techniques in the impedance matching between both elements. Some hands-on fabrication techniques will then be explored. Finally, a discussion on the coupled IR detector is presented with the aim of providing some useful insights into promising future work.

Keywords: MOM diode; antenna coupled detector; bolometer; nano-antenna.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The effectiveness of using IR imaging compared to normal imaging in some real applications: (a) Surveillance [9], (b) Fire fighting [10], (c) Medical imaging [11].
Figure 2
Figure 2
Scanning electron micrograph of a dipole antenna-coupled infrared detector example: (a) Antenna-coupled MOM diode [18], (b) Antenna-coupled bolometer [16].
Figure 3
Figure 3
Radiation patterns of a resonant dipole on a semi-infinite dielectric substrate with ϵr = 4 and ϵr = 12 [37].
Figure 4
Figure 4
Polarization dependent measured responses of the ACMOMDs together with the corresponding cos2-type fits for different configurations of read-out interconnect designs: (a) Symmetrical configurations, (b) Asymmetrical configuration [46].
Figure 5
Figure 5
Polarization ratio of Al/AlOx/Pt ACMOMD as a function of the length of the dipole antenna [1].
Figure 6
Figure 6
Dual antenna structures: (a) MMW/IR dual band antenna [48], (b) Orthogonal dipole antenna for elimination of cross polarization response [15].
Figure 7
Figure 7
Tunable antenna coupled IR detectors: (a) Polarization tunable measured response with different bias voltages [50], (b) Illustration of MOS tuner structure [52]
Figure 8
Figure 8
Ray illustration of trapped surface waves excitation in a substrate.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Parabolic reflector cavity backed structure: (a) Demonstrative diagram (b) Scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of a complete integrated device [57].
Figure 10
Figure 10
Effective collection area enhancement approaches: (a) Antenna array in serial configuration [39], (b) Antenna array in parallel configuration [63].
Figure 11
Figure 11
Effective area increase approaches: (a) Two elements phased array [44], (b) Fresnel zone structure [62].
Figure 12
Figure 12
Frequency selective surface using slot antenna coupled to MOM diode [65].
Figure 13
Figure 13
Examples of some different sensing techniques: (a) Thermocouple [23], (b) Geometric diode [68], (c) Schottky diode representation (left) and fabricated device before ITO coating (right) [70].
Figure 14
Figure 14
Energy band diagram for MOM contact: (a) Barrier formation, (b) Trapezoidal shaped barrier due to biasing effect.
Figure 15
Figure 15
Equivalent-circuit model of an antenna-coupled MOM diode.
Figure 16
Figure 16
Air-bridge for isolation [45]: (a) Bolometer and antenna suspended on the air, (b) Suspended bolometer only.
Figure 17
Figure 17
Impedance matching examples: (a) Traveling wave distributed MOM structure [33], (b) CPS to match antenna with thermocouple [22].
Figure 18
Figure 18
Examples of single metal antenna coupled nano-thermocouple [23,24].
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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