YBa(2)Cu(3)O(7) superconductor microbolometer arrays fabricated by silicon micromachining

Linear arrays of YBa(2)Cu(3)O(7) transition edge microbolometers have been fabricated on silicon substrates using silicon micromachining to produce microbolometer structures with good thermal isolation. These bolometers, which are 85 mumx115 mumx1 mum, have a noise equivalent power (NEP) of 9x10(-13) W/Hz(1/2). (neglecting contact noise) and a thermal time constant of 24 ms. With contact noise, the NEP is 9x10(-12) W/Hz(1/2). This performance indicates that a 2-D staring focal plane array of superconductor microbolometers could have a performance comparable to that of HgCdTe staring arrays without further improvements in the sharpness of the superconducting transition or reductions in the YBa(2)Cu(3 )O(7) electrical noise. The use of silicon processing technology to fabricate the superconductor microbolometers results in a significant cost advantage over HgCdTe, and there is no long wavelength cutoff dependence in the sensitivity of a superconductor microbolometer