• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.342-348
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• 2013

In this paper, the evaluation method for the responsivity and noise characteristics of an infrared thermal imaging camera was presented. Signal transfer function and noise equivalent temperature difference of the infrared thermal imaging camera were obtained by using a differential mode blackbody that is able to control the temperature difference ${\Delta}$T between an infrared target and its background. And we verified the suitability of our evaluation method through comparison between the found noise equivalent temperature difference and the specification of the camera. In addition, the difference of 0.01 K of the two noise equivalent temperature differences calculated from with and without nonuniformity correction suggests that the nonuniformity correction is essential process for the evaluation of the infrared thermal imaging camera.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.12-17
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• 2015

In this study, we analyzed and showed the enhanced thermal resolution of a lock-in infrared thermography system by employing a blackbody system and micro-register sample. The noise level or thermal resolution of an infrared camera system is usually expressed by a noise equivalent temperature difference (NETD), which is the mean square of the deviation of the different values measured for one pixel from its mean values obtained in successive measurements. However, for lock-in thermography, a more convenient quantity in the phase-independent temperature modulation amplitude can be acquired. On the basis of results, it was observed that the NETD or thermal resolution of the lock-in thermography system was significantly enhanced, which we consider to have been caused by the averaging and filtering effects of the lock-in technique.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.301-306
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• 2009

This paper describes the design and fabrication of 16$\times$16 microbolometer infrared focal plane arrays based on iMEMS technology. Amorphous silicon was used for infrared-sensitive material, and it showed the resistance of 18 Mohm and the temperature coefficient of resistivity of -2.4 %. The fabricated sensors exhibited responsivity of 78 kV/W and thermal time constant of 8.0 msec at a bias voltage of 0.5 V. The array performances had satisfactory uniformity less than 5 % within one-sigma. Also, 1/f noise of pixel was measured and the noise factor of $6\times10^{-11}$ was extracted. Finally, we obtained detectivity of $1.27\times10^9cmHz^{0.5}/W$ and noise equivalent temperature difference of 200 mK at a frame rate of 30 Hz.

• Journal of Korea Society of Industrial Information Systems
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.57-62
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• 2015

Recently, thermography camera have been using for body-temperature monitoring. We report on fabrication of prototype thermography camera using the chalcogenide-glass lens and the camera test by analysis of thermal image. In this work, it was found out that thermography camera discerned body-temperature between 20 and $50^{\circ}C$ with noise equivalent temperature difference(NETD) of 87.7mK. It is confirmed that thermography camera using the chalcogenide-glass lens is applicable to the body-temperature monitoring system.

• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.135-141
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• 2007

This paper describes the design technology for a third generation thermal imaging system, which is more compact than before, using a $320\times240$ mid-IR focal plane detector. The third generation non-scanning thermal imaging system was constructed as a compact thermal imaging module as a reconnaissance, surveillance and navigation sensor for helicopter and infantry vehicles in the $1980's\sim1990's$ and now, we designed a new compact infrared camera and studied a new type of non-uniformity correction lens fer this camera.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers
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• v.51 no.10
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• pp.80-86
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• 2014

A low-noise readout circuit is studied for 2-D capacitive microbolometer focal plane arrays (FPAs). In spite of the merits of the integration method, a simple and effective pixelwise readout circuit without integration is used for input circuit because of a small pixel size and narrow noise bandwidth. To reduce the power consumption and the kT/C noise, which is the dominant noise of the capacitive microbolometer FPAs with small capacitance, a new correlated double sampling (CDS) is used for columnwise circuit. The proposed circuit has been designed using a $0.35-{\mu}m$ 2-poly 4-metal CMOS process for a microbolometer array with a pixel size of $50{\mu}m{\times}50{\mu}m$. The proposed circuit effectively reduces the kT/C noise and the other low-frequency noise of microbolometer, and the noise characteristics of the fabricated chip have been verified by measurements. The rms noise voltage of the proposed circuit is reduced from 30 % to 55 % compared to that of the simple readout input circuit, and the noise equivalent temperature difference (NETD) of the proposed circuit is very low value of 21.5 mK.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.336-341
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• 2013

In this paper, the design concept of a low-temperature vacuum blackbody was described, and thermophysical model of the blackbody was numerically evaluated. Also the working performance of low-temperature vacuum blackbody was evaluated using infrared camera system. The blackbody system was constructed to operate under high-vacuum conditions ($2.67{\times}10^{-2}$ Pa) to reduce temperature uncertainty, which is caused by vapor condensation at low temperatures usually below 273 K. In addition, both heat sink and heat shield including cold shield were installed around radiator to prevent heat loss from the blackbody. Simplified mathematical model of blackbody radiator was analyzed using modified Stefan-Boltzmann's rule. The infrared radiant performance of the blackbody was evaluated using infrared camera. Based on the results of measurements, and simulation, temperature stability of the low-temperature vacuum blackbody demonstrated that the blackbody system can serve as a highly stable reference source for the calibration of an infrared optical system.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers
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• v.52 no.11
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• pp.36-43
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• 2015

A pixel-level readout circuit is studied for 2-dimensional microbolometer focal plane arrays (FPAs). A current mirroring injection (CMI) input circuit with 2-step current-mode bias suppression is proposed for a pixel-level architecture with high responsivity and long integration time. The proposed circuit has been designed using a $0.35-{\mu}m$ 2-poly 4-metal CMOS process for a $320{\times}240$ microbolometer array with a pixel size of $50{\mu}m{\times}50{\mu}m$. The proposed 2-step bias-current suppression has sufficiently low calibration error with wide calibration range, and the calibration range and error can be easily optimized by controlling some design parameters. Due to high responsivity and a long integration time of more than 1 ms, the noise equivalent temperature difference (NETD) of the proposed circuit can be improved to 26 mK, which is much better than that of the conventional circuits, 67 mK.