Carbon nanotube-based non-cryogenic cooled spectrum IR detectors

Abstract

Carbon nanotube (CNT) has been found to be one of the promising materials for efficient detection and used in different nanoelectronic devices due to its unique electrical properties. Recently, the applications of nanostructural material to infrared (IR) sensors are considered. Our group has developed non cryogenic cool and multiple spectrums optical sensors using single CNT and demonstrated the good sensitivity of CNT to the infrared light in different ranges. In this paper, design, fabrication and experimental result of the CNT-based optical sensor were described. The results indicated the band gap of CNTs can be tuned by electrical breakdown process, resulting multiple spectrum sensors can be developed by controlling the band gap of CNTs. Moreover, the CNT-based optical sensor detected the near-IR (NIR) signal and middle-wave IR (MWIR) signal in room temperature environment, the temperature dependency of the sensors has been studied. © 2009 SPIE.