The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jan. 08, 2019
Filed:
Apr. 12, 2017
Applicant:
Raytheon Company, Waltham, MA (US);
Inventors:
Paolo Masini, Santa Barbara, CA (US);
John William Devitt, Goleta, CA (US);
Assignee:
RAYTHEON COMPANY, Waltham, MA (US);
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G01J 5/20 (2006.01); G01J 5/04 (2006.01); G01J 5/22 (2006.01); B81B 3/00 (2006.01); G01J 5/02 (2006.01); G01J 5/06 (2006.01); H01L 31/0216 (2014.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
G01J 5/046 (2013.01); B81B 3/0081 (2013.01); G01J 5/0245 (2013.01); G01J 5/045 (2013.01); G01J 5/06 (2013.01); G01J 5/20 (2013.01); G01J 5/22 (2013.01); H01L 31/02164 (2013.01); B81B 2201/0207 (2013.01); G01J 2005/065 (2013.01);
Abstract
Methods and apparatus for preventing solar damage, and other heat-related damage, to uncooled microbolometer pixels. In certain examples, at least some of the pixels of an uncooled microbolometer are configured with a bimetallic thermal shorting structure that protects the pixel(s) from excessive heat damage. In other examples a thermochroic membrane that becomes highly reflective at temperatures above a certain threshold is applied over the microbolometer pixels to prevent the pixels from being damaged by excessive heat.