SWaP-C Uncooled Thermal Camera Module with 640x512 Resolution and 0.5W Power Consumption for Fast Integration

By using the principle of infrared radiant thermal effect, the uncooled infrared detector converts infrared radiation energy into heat energy with infrared absorption material, so that the temperature of the sensitive material increases. Then, a certain physical parameter of the sensitive material changes accordingly and converts into electrical signal or visible light signal through a certain conversion mechanism designed to realize the detection of the object.

Uncooled infrared focal plane detector does not need an Integrated Dewar Cooler Assembly (IDCA) device and can work at room temperature. It has the advantages of fast start, low power consumption, small size, light weight, long life, low cost and so on. Although the sensitivity of uncooled infrared focal plane detector is not as good as that of cooled infrared detectors, after years of development, its cost performance has been obviously better than the cooled detector, which has a broader application prospect.

According to the cooling method, infrared focal plane array can be divided into cooled and uncooled thermal imaging detectors. The cooled FPA infrared detector mainly adopts Dewar bottle/quick start throttling refrigerator and Dewar bottle/Stirling cycle refrigerator at present. While the uncooled FPA thermal IR detector works at room temperature. It is the core of uncooled thermal imaging system. The most common heat-sensitive materials include vanadium oxide (Vox) and amorphous silicon (a-Si). Vanadium oxide material is the mainstream choice in the current market; it has a high temperature resistance coefficient, and high thermal sensitivity.