Infra-Red Thermal Measurement on a Low Power Infra-Red Emitter in CMOS Technology

This study presents high-temperature characterisation of a novel infra-red (IR) emitter chip based on CMOS technology, using IR thermal microscopy. The performance and reliability of the thermal source are highly dependent on the operating temperature and temperature uniformity across the micro-heater which is embedded within the silicon dioxide membrane. To date, the accuracy of the IR measurement has been limited by the optical transparency of the semiconductor material forming the membrane, which has poor emissivity compared to a black body source. Here, a high emissivity micro-particle sensor is used to improve the accuracy of the temperature measurements. IR measurements on the emitter chip were validated with reference to temperature measurements made using an electrical technique where good temperature uniformity across the membrane heater was found.