Antenna-coupled Ti-microbolometers for High-sensitivity Terahertz Imaging

THz sensors using microbolometers as a sensing element are reported as one of the most sensitive room-temperature THz detectors suitable for THz imaging and spectroscopic applications. Microbolometer detectors are usually fabricated using different types of MEMS technology. The THz sensor presented in this paper is fabricated in the standard CMOS technology using micromachining techniques. The sensitivity of such sensors is in a range of 1000 V/W at an optimal frequency and is determined by the performance of the double-dipole antenna and quarter-wavelength resonant cavity. The output of the THz detector is connected to a discrete low-noise amplifier that increases the total sensitivity up to 106 V/W without affecting the noise equivalent power.