Noise reduction of a-Si1 − xGexOy microbolometers by forming gas passivation

We report the reduction of noise voltage power spectral density (PSD) of amorphous Si1 − xGexOy microbolometers by forming gas passivation. The microbolometers fabricated from Si1 − xGexOy were passivated in a rapid thermal annealing chamber in the presence of forming gas at 250 °C with different intervals of time starting from 0.5 h to 8 h. The noise voltage PSD was measured at different bias currents before passivation and after different interval of passivation time. It was found that the noise voltage PSD of the bolometers decreased as the passivation time increased. The 1/f-noise coefficient (Kf) was decreased from 7.54 × 10− 7 to 2.21 × 10− 10 after 8 h of forming gas passivation performed at 250 °C.