Temperature compensation readout integrated circuit for microbolometric focal plane array

Based on the theoretical analysis of microbolometer thermoelectric characteristics and temperature response, a new kind of temperature compensation readout integrated circuit for microbolometric focal plane array is proposed. The proposed readout integrated circuit provides different bias voltages for different microbolometers to control their bias currents and allow the whole microbolometric focal plane array have a wide range of operating ambient temperature. This kind of readout integrated circuit can compensate not only the operating temperature fluctuation but also the thermoelectric-parameter nonuniformity for microbolometer array. Experimental results in our laboratory show that the microbolometric focal plane array on the basis of the proposed readout circuit has well uniform voltage responses of the microbolometers in the focal plane array at different ambient temperatures to the same microbolometric temperature change. The proposed temperature compensation readout integrated circuit is potential for the design of practical low-consumption and high-resolution microbolometric focal plane arrays without thermoelectric coolers.