The objective of this research is to develop a new vanadium dioxide-based focal planar array technology capable of achieving resolution and sensitivity levels that are beyond the theoretical limits of current focal planar array technologies. The approach is to integrate vanadium dioxide thin films with silicon cantilevers and test arrays of such devices in an optical readout system to be assembled. Recent discoveries show that vanadium dioxide-coated silicon cantilevers show an abrupt and large bending during the coating?s phase transition. This phenomenon will be applied to infrared sensing technologies. The preliminary work shows that by utilizing this actuation mechanism, an approximately 6-fold increase in sensitivity over the theoretical sensitivity limits of current technologies ? based on thermal expansion coefficient of bimorph cantilevers ? is possible. The thin vanadium dioxide films did not cause bending of the coated cantilevers at room temperature, which eliminates issues related to the flatness of the bimorph cantilevers currently used. This transformative work unveils a new technology that could impact other areas such as micro-electro-mechanical actuators. The broader impacts of this work can be found in the development of a new technology for infrared sensing, that offers resolutions and sensitivities unachievable at the current state-of-the-art. The development of this technology at the University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez will impact participant undergraduate and graduate students in this institution, since it will give them the opportunity to be part of this technology development and have hands-on experience in cleanroom technologies for the first time.
