Patent ID: 8569857

Claim:
A bolometer array comprising pixel elements arranged in columns and rows, each one thereof forming a bolometer, comprising: an underlying substrate; a semiconductor membrane per pixel element, comprising a single-crystalline portion, wherein complementarily doped regions of the single-crystalline portion form a diode and a p-n junction extends between same along a column direction, pixel elements neighboring in the column direction exhibiting equal doping profiles; and a first and a second spacer per pixel element so as to keep the semiconductor membrane at a predetermined distance from the underlying substrate, wherein the predetermined distance corresponds to a fourth of an infrared wavelength, wherein a first and a second edge region via which the semiconductor membrane contacts the spacers and which comprise lands for thermal insulation of the semiconductor membrane, follow the complementarily doped regions laterally on both sides of the p-n junction in each pixel element, and wherein the bolometer additionally comprises an evaluating circuit for each pixel element and at least part of the evaluating circuit is arranged in the underlying substrate laterally between the first and second spacers; wherein in each pixel element the semiconductor membrane additionally comprises a first and a second conductive layer which are electrically insulated from each other by a gap; wherein the first conductive layer contacts the first doped region and the second conductive layer contacts the second doped region, and wherein the gap is formed along the p-n junction between the complementarily doped regions.