Evaluation of thermal parameters of bolometer devices

Abstract

Thermal conductance G, thermal capacitance H, and the time constant τ are major parameters to be determined in the design of bolometer devices and, therefore, it is an important task to evaluate these thermal parameters experimentally for design verification. In this work, a technique has been developed to determine these parameters with high accuracy by convenient electrical measurement where a high-voltage short-duration pulse was used. The method also incorporates operation conditions in the measurement and thus reveals the bias dependency of the thermal parameters. The approach was experimentally confirmed by using metal–film microbolometer devices with different values of both G and H. Test results were in a good agreement with the theoretical analysis of the measurement technique.