Flight Worthy Infrared Bolometers With High Throughput And Low NEP

Aristides T Serlemitsos

doi:10.1117/12.948379

27 April 1988 Flight Worthy Infrared Bolometers With High Throughput And Low NEP

Aristides T Serlemitsos

Proceedings Volume 0973, Cryogenic Optical Systems and Instruments III; (1988) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.948379
Event: 32nd Annual International Technical Symposium on Optical and Optoelectronic Applied Science and Engineering, 1988, San Diego, CA, United States

Abstract

The Far Infrared Absolute Spectrometer (FIRAS) and Diffuse Infrared Background Experiment (DIRBE) instruments on the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE)1 mission require bolometers with a relatively short time constant, high throughput, and low NEP. At the same time these detectors must be flight worthy and have very small microphonic response. None of the bolometers available at the beginning of the program, either monolithic or composite, met all of the above requirements. Therefore, the Goddard Space Flight Center developed composite bolometers in-house that meet the stringent requirements of COBE. Small chips of doped and compensated silicon are used as sensing elements. The absorbing substrate consists of diamond wafers coated with thin layers of chromium and gold. Maximum IR absorptance is accomplished by controlling the total surface resistance of these layers. The throughput for the FIRAS bolometers is 1.28 sr-cm², while for DIRBE it is 0.21 sr-cm². At 1.6 K, the time constants range from 3 to 40 ms and their NEP range from 4x10-15 to 1x10-14 W/Hz1/2. The noise spectra of these bolometers are flat above 1 to 2 Hz.

Citation Download Citation

Aristides T Serlemitsos "Flight Worthy Infrared Bolometers With High Throughput And Low NEP", Proc. SPIE 0973, Cryogenic Optical Systems and Instruments III, (27 April 1988); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.948379

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