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T-MOS thermal sensor

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TMOS is a new type of thermal sensor consisting in a micromachined thermally isolated transistor fabricated using CMOS - SOI (Silicon on Insulator) MEMS (Micro electro-mechanical system )technology. It has been developed in the last decade by the Technion - Israel Institute of technology. [1] A thermal sensor is a device able to detect the thermal radiation emitted by an object located in the FOV ( Field Of View ) of the sensor. Infrared radiation striking the sensor produce a change in the temperature of the device that as a consequence generates an electric output signal proportional to the incident IR power. The main mechanism exploited by these sensors is the Stefen - Boltzmann law. [2][3] TMOS detector has two important characteristics that makes it different from others: it's an active and uncooled sensor.[4][5]

Fabrication Process

A TMOS detector consists in a mosaic structure composed of several sub-pixels, which are electrically connected in parallel or in series or in a mixed combination, and are thermally isolated. In each sub-pixels the sensitive element is the TMOS sensor, that is suspended in vacuum, fabricated in CMOS - SOI technology.[6][1] The mosaic structure includes: the pixel frame, the suspended transistor, that absorbs IR radiation and that could also be embedded in an absorbing IR membrane which detrmine the the thermal capacitance of the sensor, two folding arms that determine the sensor thermal conductance.

TMOS fabrication is based on built - in mask and dry bulk micromachining.[1][4] In TMOS fabrication to the standard CMOS - SOI technology, used to produce MOS transistor, is added a MEMS post process necessary to realize the folded arms and the suspension of the transistor. In standard CMOS process there are several metal layers, in TMOS production the upper ones, made in aluminum or copper, are used as built - in masks. This is because both metals are not affected by the fluorine plasma, that is used to dry etch silicon and interlevel dielectrics. The use of buil- in mask grants high alignment accuracy and resolution while reducing fabrication costs. Final MEMS post process is the metal mask removal. This step is performed using standard wet etchant of aluminum or copper. [1][4]

At present 130 nm CMOS - SOI technology implemented on 8 - inch wafers is used to produce TMOS sensors, employing wafer level processing in standard CMOS facilities, allowing cost reduction and large volumes.[1][4]

Packaging

To improve sensor's performance and to protect it from the sorroundings environment, expecially from moisture, TMOS sensor are packaged under vacuum. The wafer level production enables also wafer level packaging, allowing the possibility to integrate optical windows and filters. [1][6][7]

TMOS package contains two devices one "active" that sense and is exposed to external radiation and another one "blind" that is shielded from the outside through an aluminum mirror deposited on the package.[1][8][7]

Operating principle

The operating principle of TMOS is that the thermal IR radiation absorbed heats up the TMOS and this cause a variation in the TMOS temperature. The temperature variation produces a current or a voltage output signal proportional to the absorbed radiation.

TMOS performance depends on the transistor operating region and configuration: two terminals component, diode like, or three terminals component. Two terminals configuration is characterized by a grater thermal isolation. On the other side the three-terminal configuration has an higher internal voltage gain, given by the higher output resistivity. [7][9]

Subthreshold region is the preffered one because avoids self heating effects and leads to higher sensitivity. Another reason to work in subthreshold region is that TMOS is an active device so requires a bias, however in this operating region the power consumption is lower than in other ones.[4][10]

From a circuit point of view the produced TMOS signal can be modelled as a temperature dependent current source isig in parallel with the gm Vgs generator for small signal equivalent circuit. The value of isig is directly proportional to the drain source current variation with respect to TMOS operating temperature and to the temperature variation induced on the TMOS by the radiation absorbed from target object. This temperature has a direct dependence on the absorbing efficiency, the incident radiation power and on the thermal conductance of the sensor.[1][7]

TMOS sensitivity depends if the device is working in current or voltage mode.[11] In current mode In current mode, a bias voltage is applied, the current increases by an increment, which is the signal current. In the first case sensitivity corresponds to the temperature coefficient of current TCC, that is defined as the inversly proportional to drain source current and directly proportional to the derivative of drain source current respect to the operating temperature. In contrast, at voltage mode, where a bias current is applied, the voltage decreases by an increment, which is the voltage signal. In the voltage mode the sensitivity is the temperature coefficient of voltage and is inversly proportional to the voltage bias and to the derivative of voltage respect to temperature for the considered operated temperature. TCC values above 4%/K are achieved working in the subthreshold region. [1][7]

As mentioned in the previous section TMOS sensor package contains two device, so the signal is read in a differential configuration. In this way the blind TMOS is a reference relative to which the measu[10]re is done. In this configuration is also possible to reject the common mode signal and self heating effects.[1][10][11]

Advantages

TMOS thermal sensor presents several advantage compared to other thermal sensor such as thermopiles, bolometers and also microbolometers, which have a very similar sturcture. Both thermopile and bolometer are passive detectors while microbolometers can also have an active structure, but the performance are not comparable with TMOS ones.

The main advantages in using TMOS sensor are:

  • High sensitivity and responsivity dued to the active working mode, and in particular biasing the transistor in subthreshold region.
  • Low power consumption, that makes it suitable for IOT and wearable applications.
  • High internal gain.
  • High reproducible and reliable fabrication process.
  • Low fabrication costs dued to CMOS compatible fabrication process used.
  • Large volumes production, makes it suitable for consumer electronics.

Disadvantages

The main disadvantage is the limited sensitivity comparead with cooled IR detectors. Quantum photon detectors for example reach higher sensitivity but they need to work at cryogenic temperatures, so require cooling system which consume a lot of power.

Applications

Thermal sensors may have a lot of different applications. They respond to thermal IR radiation so their main application is for the production of thermal IR camera. The other possible qpplications regards different fields from gas analysis, human detection for autonoumous driving, presence detection, people counting, security system or thermal monitoring during fabrication process.[1]

Until now the main TMOS application has been as an high sensitivity detector for motion and presence. [12][13] There are also some products commercially avalaible.

It will rapresent a perfect candidate also for human body contactless temperature measurments.[1]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Moisello, Elisabetta; Malcovati, Piero; Bonizzoni, Edoardo (2021). "Thermal Sensors for Contactless Temperature Measurements, Occupancy Detection, and Automatic Operation of Appliances during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Review". Micromachines. 12 (2): 148. doi:10.3390/mi12020148. ISSN 2072-666X.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link)
  2. ^ Mahan, J. Robert (2002-06-03). Radiation Heat Transfer: A Statistical Approach. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0-471-21270-6.
  3. ^ Houdas, Y.; Ring, E. F. J. (2013-06-29). Human Body Temperature: Its Measurement and Regulation. Springer Science & Business Media. ISBN 978-1-4899-0345-7.
  4. ^ a b c d e Gitelman, L.; Stolyarova, S.; Bar-Lev, S.; Gutman, Z.; Ochana, Y.; Nemirovsky, Yael (2009). "CMOS-SOI-MEMS Transistor for Uncooled IR Imaging". IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices. 56 (9): 1935–1942. doi:10.1109/TED.2009.2026523. ISSN 1557-9646.
  5. ^ Uncooled Infrared Imaging Arrays and Systems. Academic Press. 1997-11-24. ISBN 978-0-08-086444-0.
  6. ^ a b Zviagintsev, Alex; Bar-Lev, Sharon; Brouk, Igor; Bloom, Ilan; Nemirovsky, Yael (October 2018). "Modeling the Performance of Mosaic Uncooled Passive IR Sensors in CMOS–SOI Technology". IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices. 65 (10): 4571–4576. doi:10.1109/TED.2018.2863207. ISSN 1557-9646.
  7. ^ a b c d e Zviagintsev, Alex; Blank, Tania; Brouk, Igor; Bloom, Ilan; Nemirovsky, Yael (November 2017). "Modeling the Performance of Nano Machined CMOS Transistors for Uncooled IR Sensing". IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices. 64 (11): 4657–4663. doi:10.1109/TED.2017.2751681. ISSN 1557-9646.
  8. ^ Blank, Tanya; Brouk, Igor; Bar-Lev, Sharon; Amar, Gavriel; Meimoun, Elie; Bouscher, Shlomi; Meltsin, Maxim; Vaiana, Michele; Maierna, Amedeo; Castagna, Maria Eloisa; Bruno, Giuseppe; Nemirovsky, Yael (February 2021). "Non-Imaging Digital CMOS-SOI-MEMS Uncooled Passive Infra-Red Sensing Systems". IEEE Sensors Journal. 21 (3): 3660–3668. doi:10.1109/JSEN.2020.3022095. ISSN 1558-1748.
  9. ^ Moisello, Elisabetta; Vaiana, Michele; Castagna, Maria Eloisa; Bruno, Giuseppe; Bronk, Igor; Blank, Tanya; Bar-Lev, Sharon; Nemirovsky, Yael; Malcovati, Piero; Bonizzoni, Edoardo (2021). "Study of a Voltage-Mode Readout Configuration for Micromachined CMOS Transistors for Uncooled IR Sensing". 2021 IEEE 12th Latin America Symposium on Circuits and System (LASCAS): 1–4. doi:10.1109/LASCAS51355.2021.9459117.
  10. ^ a b c Moisello, Elisabetta; Vaiana, Michele; Castagna, Maria Eloisa; Bruno, Giuseppe; Bronk, Igor; Blank, Tanya; Bar-Lev, Sharon; Nemirovsky, Yael; Malcovati, Piero; Bonizzoni, Edoardo (2021). "Study of a Voltage-Mode Readout Configuration for Micromachined CMOS Transistors for Uncooled IR Sensing". 2021 IEEE 12th Latin America Symposium on Circuits and System (LASCAS): 1–4. doi:10.1109/LASCAS51355.2021.9459117.
  11. ^ a b Zviagintsev, Alex; Brouk, Igor; Bloom, Ilan; Nemirovsky, Yael (2014). "Voltage and current integrated readout for uncooled passive IR sensors based on CMOS-SOI-NEMS technology". 2014 IEEE 28th Convention of Electrical & Electronics Engineers in Israel (IEEEI): 1–5. doi:10.1109/EEEI.2014.7005758.
  12. ^ Saraf, Tomer; Brouk, Igor; Bar-Lev Shefi, Sharon; Unikovsky, Aharon; Blank, Tanya; Radhakrishnan, Praveen Kumar; Nemirovsky, Yael (May 2016). "CMOS-SOI-MEMS Uncooled Infrared Security Sensor With Integrated Readout". IEEE Journal of the Electron Devices Society. 4 (3): 155–162. doi:10.1109/JEDS.2016.2539980. ISSN 2168-6734.
  13. ^ Blank, Tanya; Brouk, Igor; Bar-Lev, Sharon; Amar, Gavriel; Meimoun, Elie; Bouscher, Shlomi; Meltsin, Maxim; Vaiana, Michele; Maierna, Amedeo; Castagna, Maria Eloisa; Bruno, Giuseppe; Nemirovsky, Yael (2021). "Non-Imaging Digital CMOS-SOI-MEMS Uncooled Passive Infra-Red Sensing Systems". IEEE Sensors Journal. 21 (3): 3660–3668. doi:10.1109/JSEN.2020.3022095. ISSN 1558-1748.
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