Design and Performance of a Room-Temperature Terahertz Detection Array for Real-Time Imaging

A simple mass producible detection array for terahertz radiation has been designed and fabricated. The 1 mm times 1 mm pixels consist of a 0.5 mm times 0.5 mm thin-film absorber on a membrane, supported by 0.28-mm-wide silicon separation beams. Thermopiles are used to measure the temperature increase of the absorber. The 5 ms thermal time constant of the detector, together with the noise equivalent power of 1 nW/Hz^1/2, enables real-time imaging at 50 frames/s with a signal-to-noise ratio of 10 for an optical intensity of 30 muW/cm².