InfraRed Focal Plane Arrays (IRFPAs) are crucial components in a wide range of applications, including night vision, thermal imaging and gas sensing. Among the various types of IRFPAs, micro-bolometer-based ones have gained significant attention due to their high sensitivity, low noise and low cost. However, their performance is heavily dependent on the readout interface, which converts the analog electrical signals provided by the micro-bolometers into digital signals for further processing and analysis. This paper briefly introduces these kinds of devices and their function, reporting and discussing a list of key parameters used to evaluate their performance; after that, the focus is shifted to the readout interface architecture with particular attention to the different strategies adopted, across the last two decades, in the design and development of the main blocks included in the readout chain.
Keywords: IRFPA; bolometers; micro-bolometers; readout interfaces; thermal imaging.