South Korean researchers develop low-cost thermal sensor for driverless cars

According to foreign media reports, Dr. Won Jun Choi and his team from the Center for Opto-Electronic Materials and Devices of the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) and Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU) ) and the team of Professor Jeong Min Baik of ), using vanadium dioxide (VO2)-B thin film to develop a sensor that can operate at a temperature of 100 °C, and can maintain stable performance without cooling devices, which is expected to be higher than the standard in the market. The lower cost of the sensor has paved the way for its use in smartphones and self-driving cars.

(Image credit: KIST)

Thermally stable VO2(B) films formed on amorphous SrTiO3 layers using 5-layer Ti/MgF2 stacks as infrared (IR) absorbers showed excellent electrical resistivity and low resistance after standing at 100°C for more than a month The temperature coefficient of rate did not change. The sensor is able to obtain the same level of infrared signal as room temperature at 100 °C. By using an infrared absorber that can absorb more external infrared light, the sensor can detect thermal signatures with three times the sensitivity and convert them into electrical signals, eliminating the need for cooling. In thermal imaging sensors, cooling equipment accounts for more than 10% of the cost and consumes a lot of electricity.

Even at high temperatures of 100 °C, the sensor only requires a response time of about 3 milliseconds, three times that of conventional sensors, allowing thermal images to be captured at 100 frames per second, far exceeding the 30-40 per second of conventional sensors. frame speed. Therefore, this sensor is very likely to be used in self-driving cars.

Dr Choi said: “Through this joint research, we have developed a technology that can significantly reduce the production cost of thermal imaging sensors. The sensor has excellent responsiveness and operating speed compared to more traditional devices. It is expected that the sensor It will accelerate the use of thermal imaging sensors in the military supply, smartphone and autonomous vehicle industries.”

Source: Gasgoo

Author: Liu Liting