Silicon micromachining technique for fabricating high temperature superconducting microbolometers

Infrared detectors have been based on high temperature superconductors as bolometer resistors. To achieve low thermal mass and good thermal isolation of the bolometer device the concept of air-bridge mircrobolometers is introduced. Silicon micromachining technology is applied to prepare free-standing YBa₂Cu₃O₇ structures on silicon substrates. This paper describes the overall concept of air-bridge microbolometers and demonstrates the superiority of these devices compared to conventional bolometers.