Thin film ferroelectric materials for microbolometer arrays

This paper reviews the use of thin film ferroelectric materials for application in microbolometer infrared detector arrays. A key issue is the need for high temperature processing to achieve the required ferroelectric crystal phase. Results of thermal trials on silicon readout circuits are presented which indicate failure due to disruption of the AlCuSi metallisation. Higher temperatures can be used if oxygen is excluded. A low temperature lead zirconate titanate (PZT) sol-gel deposition is reported which has been used to fabricate fully integrated detector arrays directly on readout silicon wafers. Higher performance is obtained from dielectric bolometer materials, and materials merit figures nearly 4 times that of PZT are reported for sputtered lead scandium tantalate (PST) films. These require post-deposition annealing to temperatures above that allowable for silicon readout survival. Results on excimer laser annealing are presented which demonstrate crystallisation of a ferroelectric film without heating the underlying substrate. A new composite thermal detector array design is introduced, based on an indirect fabrication method. This uses a high density interconnect wafer as a high temperature substrate for ferroelectric film growth. After fabrication of the detector pixels, individual arrays are flip-chip bonded to readout silicon die.