Abstract
A substrate-free optical readout focal plane array (FPA) operating in 8–12 μm with a heat sink structure (HSS) was fabricated and its performance was tested. The temperature distribution of the FPA with an HSS investigated by using a commercial FLIR IR camera shows excellent uniformity. The thermal cross-talk effect existing in traditional substrate-free FPAs was eliminated effectively. The heat sink is fabricated successfully by electroplating copper, which provides high thermal capacity and high thermal conductivity, on the frame of substrate-free FPA. The FPA was tested in the optical-readout system, the results show that the response and NETD are 13.6 grey/K (F / # = 0.8) and 588 mK, respectively.