Detection of the mm-wave radiation using a low-cost LWIR microbolometer camera from a multiplied Schottky diode based source

This paper presents the measurement and analysis method for detection of the mm-wave signal at 96 GHz, by using a low-cost microbolometer infrared (IR) camera with 70 μm pixel-pitch optimized for detection in the 8-12 μm (LWIR) range. The mm-wave beam derived from a multiplied Schottky diode based source is detected within ~ 65 % of the whole area of a 160×120 pixel focal plane array microbolometer sensor. Under ~73 mW incident power, responsivity is measured as 7.3 V/W, and the average noise for the measurement is determined as 12 μV, which includes both detector and readout electronics contribution. From the measured parameters, the integrated Noise Equivalent Power (NEP) is calculated as 1.63 μW within the 7.8 kHz readout bandwidth. By using a simple setup, it is shown that a low-cost microbolometer camera which is designed for LWIR range can detect a distinct mm-wave beam at 96 GHz.