We permanently increase our development’s workforce as the market is growing, in order to prepare for future request and to be able to react to newest trends, such as the application of microsystem technologies (MOEMS). In addition to product developments for our customers, we also cooperate with different project partners and work on various promotion projects for future infrared sensor generations.
Our know-how is reflected in our products, such as the microspectrometer with integrated MOEMS-based Fabry-Pérot filter, which is currently one of the competition-leading innovations. It has also been distinguished by the optical industry and has won numerous prizes.
Go Digital with PyrIQ
The pyroelectric detector becomes digital and supplements the portfolio of analog detectors.
To reduce the expenditure for customers and to facilitate the system integration of a detector, InfraTec has developed the digital pyroelectric detector – PyrIQ. It enables complete flexibility in the configuration of the detector parameters and therefore variable signal processing. In addition, it offers improved electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) and converts the analog signal with a 16-Bit resolution directly into a digital signal. A further special feature is the "fast recovery after saturation". This function detects the override due to a defective operating status and automatically resets the analog input stage.
KERAMIR – Monolithic Ceramic IR Emitter
New type of thermal emitters with extra power and reliability
In the KERAMIR project, the partners InfraTec and the Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems IKTS, with financial support from the European Regional Development Fund of the European Union, want to establish the technological foundations for a completely new category of ceramic-based IR emitters. These emitters should be characterized by a high radiation power in the mid and far infrared range, excellent long-term stability of the optical and electrical properties, high reliability and long service life as well as a very compact surface-mountable design. Ceramic multilayer technology is used to meet these sometimes conflicting requirements. As a result, the IR emitter can be realized as a completely monolithic ceramic component. The key innovation is that the radiating surface is designed as a thin self-supporting ceramic membrane in combination with a thin metallic layer.
Equipment in Case of an Emergency
InfraTec supports the development of a new explosion-proof gas detector for rescue forces
Gas detectors for detecting explosive and combustible gases are an indispensable part of the protective equipment of the fire brigade, disaster relief and other civil rescue teams. These devices enable helpers to establish whether an explosive atmosphere is present at the emergency location, which represents an otherwise undetectable hazardous situation. The most accurate knowledge possible about the explosive gases and their spatial expansion is decisive for ensuring fast, safe and efficient intervention. In the course of the MIREX project sponsored by the German Ministry of Research and Education, which ends in May 2019, InfraTec has been working on the development of an innovative device that supports a faster and more exact assessment of the hazardous situation.
In the Service of Meteorology
International Measuring Institutes use Pyroelectric Detectors from InfraTec
A measuring instrument that can determine sound scientific data must be calibrated beforehand. Only then can it output reliable information that is deemed comparable and repeatable. As leading bodies, institutions such as the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) or the National Institute of Standards (NIST) constitute the basis worldwide for the correct calibration of measuring instruments. InfraTec supports the work of PTB and NIST and provide them with detectors such as the LIE-651.
Play it Safe
InfraTec will be protecting its detectors from high humidity in future by specially developed infrared windows.
Pyroelectric detectors are sensitive components. To ensure that they provide correct signals throughout their entire service life, a precisely defined atmosphere must prevail within their housing. Even tiny quantities of moisture inside the detectors, for example, produce leakage currents and thus cause deviations from the function parameters. Only a hermetically sealed housing fastening that is stable over a long period of time can prevent this. With financial support from the European Fund for Regional Development of the European Union, InfraTec has developed a broadband, solderable infrared window that provides such protection.
New Fundamental Element
InfraTec wants to further improve its detectors in the future with chip carriers made of plastic
InfraTec has used chip carriers manufactured from metallic contour-etched parts for its pyroelectric infrared detectors for a long time. The components of just a few millimetres in size do not always meet the specified requirements with regard to shape and dimensions. Moreover, deviations from the actual design can involve unintended changes in detector properties. Thus, inspection work and waste increases considerably during the production. Alternative production methods for chip carriers have the potential to achieve more consistent results here. With financial support from the European Fund for Regional Development of the European Union, InfraTec is therefore carrying out research on components made of injection moulded metallised plastic.
