Method and apparatus for testing an infrared sensor

A method and apparatus (70) for evaluating the functionality and sensitivity of an infrared sensor (10) to infrared radiation. The method and apparatus (70) are adapted for testing an infrared sensor (10) having a diaphragm (16) containing a heating element (58) and a transducer (12) that generates an output responsive to temperature. The method entails placing the infrared sensor (10) in a controlled environment (72), and then exposing the diaphragm (16) of the sensor (10) to different levels of thermal radiation so as to obtain outputs of the transducer (12) at different output levels. In the absence of exposure of the diaphragm (16) to thermal radiation, flowing current through the heating element (58) at different input levels so that the output of the transducer (12) returns to the different output levels obtained using thermal radiation, the input difference between the input levels can be computed and used to assess the functionality and the sensitivity of the sensor (10).