Advanced Uncooled Sensor Product Development

The partnership between RVS, Seek Thermal and Freescale Semiconductor continues on the path to bring the latest technology and innovation to both military and commercial customers. The partnership has matured the 17μm pixel for volume production on the Thermal Weapon Sight (TWS) program in efforts to bring advanced production capability to produce a low cost, high performance product. The partnership has developed the 12μm pixel and has demonstrated performance across a family of detector sizes ranging from formats as small as 206 x 156 to full high definition formats. Detector pixel sensitivities have been achieved using the RVS double level advanced pixel structure. Transition of the packaging of microbolometers from a traditional die level package to a wafer level package (WLP) in a high volume commercial environment is complete. Innovations in wafer fabrication techniques have been incorporated into this product line to assist in the high yield required for volume production. The WLP seal yield is currently > 95%. Simulated package vacuum lives >> 20 years have been demonstrated through accelerated life testing where the package has been shown to have no degradation after 2,500 hours at 150°C. Additionally the rugged assembly has shown no degradation after mechanical shock and vibration and thermal shock testing. The transition to production effort was successfully completed in 2014 and the WLP design has been integrated into multiple new production products including the TWS and the innovative Seek Thermal commercial product that interfaces directly to an iPhone or android device.