High resolution thermopile infrared sensor array having monolithically integrated signal processing

A high-resolution two dimensional thermopile infrared sensor array having monolithically integrated signal processing, comprising:

• a plurality of parallel signal processing channels for signals from a plurality of pixels of a sensor array arranged on one or more sensor chips, and also a digital port for serial output of the signals of the pixels,
• wherein each signal processing channel is assigned to a number of pixels,
• wherein each signal processing channel is provided with a separate slow power-saving and high resolution analog/digital converter, each analog/digital converter having a resolution of 10 bits or more,
• wherein each signal processing channel is provided with no more than one preamplifier connected upstream of each of the separate analog/digital converters, each preamplifier having a gain factor that is less than 500-fold,
• wherein each signal processing channel is assigned a memory area in a memory for storing results of the analog/digital converters;
• wherein any center-to-center distance between adjacent pixels of the sensor array is less than 200 μm, and
• wherein the combination of the no more than one preamplifier having a low gain of less than 500-fold and the slow power saving and high resolution analog/digital converter enables both a significantly small power loss from the signal processing channels and a center to center distance between adjacent pixels of less than 200 μm.