Sarcon Will Use Sarnoff MEMS Facility For Uncooled Infrared Sensor Array Production.

Business Editors

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. & PRINCETON, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 19, 2002

320 X 240 IR Array for IR Cameras and Temperature Measurement

Systems Is 10X to 20X More Sensitive, Lower in Cost

than Other Detectors

Sarcon Microsystems of Knoxville today announced that it has awarded the production contract for its unique high-performance 320 X 240 microelectromechanical (MEMS) infrared sensor array to Sarnoff Corporation of Princeton, NJ (formerly RCA Laboratories).

The Sarcon uncooled IR array offers 10X to 20X the sensitivity of other competing detectors, at a lower cost. Customers for the device include manufacturers of thermal "see-in-the-dark" cameras and temperature sensors.

Sarcon plans to deliver complete IR detector engines with associated ROIC electronics for evaluation to OEM customers by the end of the first quarter of 2003. Commercial production is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2003. The company will set up an IR detector engine packaging facility on Sarnoff's Princeton campus, for single-site production of complete component-level detectors. Sarcon expects that the high performance and low cost of the detector, based on MEMS microcantilever technology, will let OEMs expand existing markets and create new ones for their products.

"This agreement marks our next step toward bringing high-performance, low-cost uncooled detector engines to the market," said Don Perrine, President & CEO of Sarcon. "The transition to Sarnoff's fab for the MEMs processing has been extraordinarily efficient due to the ongoing R&D relationship between our two companies. We look forward to continuing our successful relationship to produce high quality infrared detector engines."

According to Frank Pantuso, Vice President and General Manager at Sarnoff, the company's foundry will complete development of the 320 X 240 chips, then ramp up to full production. "We believe our knowledge of the Sarcon technology and our nearly thirty years of experience in making high-performance CCD and CMOS image sensors gives us a real advantage in moving these devices into production," he said. "We're gratified that Sarcon has chosen us as its manufacturing partner."

MEMS Process Lowers Costs

Infrared imaging systems are used to monitor overheating in equipment and many manufacturing processes, and in Security and Surveillance night-vision equipment. Sarcon's uncooled IR detectors use a unique MEMS-based microcantilever structure for 10-20 times the sensitivity of competing technologies, with lower noise. The devices are also lower in cost, because they are produced with standard IC processes and techniques.

"We fabricate each IR device with an array of microscopic cantilevered elements micromachined onto the surface of a standard CMOS silicon wafer," said Scott Hunter, Sarcon's Vice President for R&D. "The cantilevers represent pixels in an image. As they bend in response to the heat of invisible infrared light, they generate electrical signals that create a thermal image of objects in a scene.

"The key advantage of the microcantilever device, other than its low manufacturing cost, is its temperature conversion sensitivity, allowing very small differences in object temperatures to be accurately imaged."