Recent work at Goddard Space Flight Center has demonstrated that high Tc superconductor films on thin sapphire substrates can result in broadband infrared detectors of record high detectivity for bolometers operating above liquid nitrogen temperatures. The proposed project will advance this development by applying micromachining techniques to the sapphire and to mating silicon substrates. Bolometers fabricated on these improved substrates will show increased detectivity through reduced heat capacity and improved thermal isolation. The technique also offers improved ease of fabrication for single-element detectors, as well as a capability for producing small arrays of detectors on a single substrate. The concept is compatible with on-substrate readout electronics.Primary application is to radiation detection at infrared and far- infrared wavelengths. Various spaceborne and ground-based instruments, particularly spectrometers, will utilize these detectors.
Keywords: Phase_I, NASA, Abstract, FY94
