InAs Photodiodes for 3.43 μm Radiation Thermometry

We report an evaluation of an epitaxially grown uncooled InAs photodiode for the use in radiation thermometry. Radiation thermometry measurements was taken using the photodiode covered blackbody temperatures of 50 °C–300 °C. By determining the photocurrent and signal-to-noise ratio, the temperature error of the measurements was deduced. It was found that an uncooled InAs photodiode, with the peak and cutoff wavelengths of 3.35 and 3.55 μm, respectively, measured a temperature of 50 °C, with an error of 0.17 °C. Many plastics have C–H molecular bond absorptions at 3.43 μm and hence radiate thermally at this wavelength. Our results suggest that InAs photodiodes are well suited to measure the temperature of plastics above 50 °C. When tested with a narrow bandpass filter at 3.43 μm and blackbody temperatures from 50 °C–300 °C, the InAs photodiode was also found to produce a higher output photocurrent, compared with a commercial PbSe detectors.