UNCOOLED THERMAL IMAGING USING A PIEZORESISTIVE MICROCANTILEVER

The operation of an uncooled, microcantilever-based infrared (IR) imag ing device is demonstrated. Bending of the microcantilever is a functi on of the IR radiation intensity incident on the cantilever surface. T he infrared image of the source is obtained by rastering a microfabric ated cantilever over the image formed at the focal plane of a concave mirror. The bending variation of the microcantilever, as it scanned th e focal plane of the mirror, is used to construct an infrared image of the source in front of the mirror. The thermal image obtained by scan ning a single element cantilever is presented. (C) 1996 American Insti tute by Physics.