Silicon avalanche transition edge bolometer: approaching the thermodynamic limit for uncooled long-wave infrared detection
Abstract
Bolometers transduce incident electromagnetic radiation into measurable electrical signals via radiation-induced heating in thermo-resistive materials. They are uniquely capable of detecting low-energy photons without cryogenic cooling, and are widely deployed for uncooled long-wave infrared (LWIR) radiation detection and thermal imaging. Although their fundamental detection limit is set by the thermodynamic fluctuations, state-of-the-art uncooled bolometers still operate well above this limit due to the presence of Johnson noise, 1/f noise and noises from the readout circuits. Here, we address this challenge by introducing a new uncooled LWIR bolometer concept---the silicon avalanche transition edge (SATE) bolometer. Operating near the steep current transition edge associated with avalanche breakdown, the device exhibits an ultra-high, positive temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) of 330 %/K, greatly suppressing the impacts of other noise sources. Even without any thermal insulation structures, the SATE bolometer delivers a high room-temperature responsivity up to 160 mA/W for 9.5 μm radiation, a noise equivalent power of 370 pW/√(Hz), and a strong electro-thermal feedback enlarged bandwidth of 77 kHz---performance unattainable with conventional bolometer materials with a TCR of −1∼−3%/K. Our work establishes a promising thermo-electric transduction mechanism toward high-sensitivity, high-speed room-temperature thermal imaging and infrared spectroscopy using CMOS technology.
Related
- Complexification of the Kerr-AdS black hole thermodynamic phase transition
- Spin–orbit–controlled flat-band transition, thermodynamic and magnetic response in a disordered Lieb-5 lattice
- Correlated Insulator Moiré Bolometer
- Geometric Transition of Latent Dynamics in Intermittent Chaos: SVD-based Effective Dimension for Detection and Proactive Control
- Electrical detection of spin-flip transition in metal/\ce{Na_5Co_{15.5}Te_6O_{36}} heterostructure
BibTeX
@misc{deng2026silicon,
title = {{Silicon avalanche transition edge bolometer: approaching the thermodynamic limit for uncooled long-wave infrared detection}},
author = {Wenjun Deng and Renwen Yu and Guanyu Han and Ziyao Feng and Yu Wang and Shanhui Fan and Qiushi Guo},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.17821},
eprint = {2609.17821},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.17821},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Silicon avalanche transition edge bolometer: approaching the thermodynamic limit for uncooled long-wave infrared detection
AU - Wenjun Deng
AU - Renwen Yu
AU - Guanyu Han
AU - Ziyao Feng
AU - Yu Wang
AU - Shanhui Fan
AU - Qiushi Guo
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/15
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.17821
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.17821
AB - Bolometers transduce incident electromagnetic radiation into measurable electrical signals via radiation-induced heating in thermo-resistive materials. They are uniquely capable of detecting low-energy photons without cryogenic cooling, and are widely deployed for uncooled long-wave infrared (LWIR) radiation detection and thermal imaging. Although their fundamental detection limit is set by the thermodynamic fluctuations, state-of-the-art uncooled bolometers still operate well above this limit due to the presence of Johnson noise, 1/f noise and noises from the readout circuits. Here, we address this challenge by introducing a new uncooled LWIR bolometer concept---the silicon avalanche transition edge (SATE) bolometer. Operating near the steep current transition edge associated with avalanche breakdown, the device exhibits an ultra-high, positive temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) of 330 %/K, greatly suppressing the impacts of other noise sources. Even without any thermal insulation structures, the SATE bolometer delivers a high room-temperature responsivity up to 160 mA/W for 9.5 μm radiation, a noise equivalent power of 370 pW/√(Hz), and a strong electro-thermal feedback enlarged bandwidth of 77 kHz---performance unattainable with conventional bolometer materials with a TCR of −1∼−3%/K. Our work establishes a promising thermo-electric transduction mechanism toward high-sensitivity, high-speed room-temperature thermal imaging and infrared spectroscopy using CMOS technology.
ER -