Gold-Black Coatings for Freestanding Pyroelectric Detectors

Published

May 23, 2003

Author(s)

John H. Lehman, Evangelos Theocharous, George P. Eppeldauer, Chris Pannell

Abstract

We describe the process of depositing gold-black on thin, freestanding pyroelectric detector substrates and compare this with previous work documented in the literature. We have evaluated gold-black coatings on thin, freestanding pyroelectric detector substrates by means of scanning electron microscope, Fourier transform infrared spectrophotometer reflectance, and spectral responsivity measurements. Spectrophotometer measurements indicate that reflectance at normal incidence varies by less than 1 % at wavelengths shorter than 2.5 υm and by less than 10 % at 10 υm. These results are correlated with the spectral responsivity of the detector and demonstrate that radiation not reflected by the gold-black is absorbed by the detector element. We have evaluated gold-black coatings as a function of position at two wavelengths and found variations of less than 1 % at 1.25 υm and less than 5 % at 10.3 υm, which demonstrates that spatial uniformity can be coating dependent. Gold-black coatings exposed to a 193 nm wavelength excimer laser were evaluated by visual inspection for damage and determined to have a damage threshold of approximately 38 mJ cm^-2.

Citation

Measurement Science & Technology

Volume

14

Issue

7

Pub Type

Journals

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Keywords

gold-black, lithium tantalate, pyroelectric detector, reflectance, spatial uniformity, spectral responsivity

Citation

Lehman, J. , Theocharous, E. , Eppeldauer, G. and Pannell, C. (2003), Gold-Black Coatings for Freestanding Pyroelectric Detectors, Measurement Science & Technology, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=30922 (Accessed October 13, 2025)