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:
Jul. 13, 2010
Filed:
May. 30, 2007
Ying Hsu, Costa Mesa, CA (US);
Ying Hsu, Costa Mesa, CA (US);
Other;
Abstract
The thermoelectric detector consists of an absorber structure supported by two electrically connected beams made of thermoelectric materials such as polysilicon, polysilicon/germanium, bismuth-telluride, skutterrides, superlattice structures, nano-composites and other materials. One end of the thermoelectric beam connects to the absorber structure; the other end connects to the substrate. Infrared radiation incident on the absorber heats up the absorber, resulting in a temperature gradient along the length of the thermoelectric legs, and generating an electrical voltage. The detector arrays are fabricated using micromachining process. The absorber structure is formed over a sacrificial material that is removed at the end of the processing, leaving the detector suspended and thermally isolated. The sacrificial processing method enables the production of small pixel thermoelectric detectors in large two-dimensional arrays with high sensitivity.