InfiRay Microbolometric Imagers Progress

InfiRay, formerly known as IRay, is probably the most advanced microbolometric sensor company in China. It has released 10um pixel-based imagers a year ago:

SystemPlus publishes a reverse engineering report of InfiRay 12um and 17um pixel generations (the pictures below are 17um generation):

InfiRay progress has been presented in the company's 2015 paper "Recent development of small pixel uncooled focal plane arrays at IRay" by P. Wang and H. Wang:

"The uncooled microbolometer makers have transitioned through smaller pitches about every six years while maintaining a noise equivalent temperature difference (NETD) of 20-50mK. IRay commercialized 25μm pixel pitch 640×512 and 384×288 uncooled infrared focal plane arrays (IRFPAs) and 20μm pixel pitch 640×512 and 384×288 IRFPAs in the past five years.

Vanadium oxide (VOx) microbolometers incorporated in these products are depicted in this paper. A 17μm pixel pitch 640×512 uncooled IRFPA with NETD of less than 35mK is also presented. The detectors are designed to enhance its manufacturability, life time, and its reliability under shock and vibration to meet security applications and Driver’s Viewer Enhancer (DVE) requirements."

A 2019 paper of Chinese Academy of Space Technology "Development of long-wavelength infrared detector and its space-based application requirements" by Junku Liu, Lin Xiao, Yang Liu, Longfei Cao, and Zhengkun Shen compares China-made microbolometric sensors with the foreign ones: