Demonstration of thermal modulation using nanoscale and microscale structures for ultralarge pixel array photothermal transducers

Large-pixel-array infrared emitters are attractive in the applications of infrared imaging and detection. However, the array scale has been restricted in traditional technologies. Here, we demonstrated a light-driven photothermal transduction approach for an ultralarge pixel array infrared emitter. A metal-black coating with nanoporous structures and a silicon (Si) layer with microgap structures were proposed to manage the thermal input and output issues. The effects of the nanoscale structures in the black coating and microscale structures in the Si layer were investigated. Remarkable thermal modulation could be obtained by adjusting the nanoscale and microscale structures. The measured stationary and transient results of the fabricated photothermal transducers agreed well with the simulated results. From the input view, due to its wide spectrum and high absorption, the black coating with nanoscale structures contributed to a 5.6-fold increase in the temperature difference compared to that without the black coating. From the output view, the microgap structures in the Si layer eliminated the in-plane thermal crosstalk. The temperature difference was increased by 340% by modulating the out-of-plane microstructures. The proposed photothermal transducer had a rising time of 0.95 ms and a falling time of 0.53 ms, ensuring a fast time response. This method is compatible with low-cost and mass manufacturing and has promising potential to achieve ultralarge-array pixels beyond ten million.