Laser Components, in collaboration with Dexter Research Centre, has launched the new ST60 MEMS-based thermopile detector that can withstand operating temperatures of 300ᵒC.
Thermopile detectors are passive radiation sensing devices that require no bias or cooling and generate an output in the range of microvolts to millivolts. The voltage produced is proportional to the temperature gradient between junctions and, unlike pyroelectric detectors, thermopiles are very low-noise devices, generating no 1/f or microphonic noise. The ST60 has an active area of 0.61 x 0.61mm2 and can be fitted with a low-cost polysilicon resistor that is used as a positive temperature coefficient thermistor.
Applications include non-contact temperature measurements such as tympanic thermometers, automobile climate control and occupancy sensing, process temperature monitoring, gas analysis in the medical, automotive, and petroleum industries, hazard control including flame and explosion detection, and horizon sensors for science and space.