Fast electrostatic shutter and method of achieving offset compensation in infrared video imagers using fast shutters

A method of manufacturing an electrostatic infrared shutter comprising:

• providing an infrared transparent substrate;
• ensuring said substrate is conductive;
• covering said substrate with a thin insulating layer;
• depositing a glue stripe along one edge of conductive surface of said substrate;
• depositing a thin film stack on conductive surface of said substrate, whereby said glue stripe is covered;
• delineating a working area in said thin film stack;
• providing contacts to said conductive layer and to conductive layer of said film stack;
• heat-treating said shutter whereby it forms a roll;
• and
• treating said shutter to be non-reflective in the infrared.

An offset compensation method employing a fast shutter in an infrared imager comprising:

• extrapolating fine offset value;
• correcting temporal noise;
• and
• applying a running average whereby residual spatial patterns are reduced.