•Patented novel technology procedure for planarized microbolometer THz sensor.•Examination of thermal properties of high sensitivity THz sensor.•Fabrication of planarized antenna – microbolometer ...couple.•Analysis of frequency response of dipole antenna obtained with different methods.•Component analysis of several materials with »Dual color« THz imaging as TDS system beam profile scan and transmittance image.
THz sensors using microbolometers as a sensing element are reported as one of the most sensitive room-temperature THz detectors suitable for THz imaging and spectroscopic applications. Microbolometer detectors are usually fabricated using different types of MEMS technology. The THz sensor presented in this paper is fabricated in the standard CMOS technology using micromachining techniques. The sensitivity of such sensors is in a range of 1000V/W at an optimal frequency and is determined by the performance of the double-dipole antenna and quarter-wavelength resonant cavity. The output of the THz detector is connected to a discrete low-noise amplifier that increases the total sensitivity up to 106V/W without affecting the noise equivalent power.
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