Imaging

Chinese’s first low-definition microbolometer for integration into consumer applications.

Founded in 1999, Guide Infrared is now a leader in infrared technology in China and in the world. After developing microbolometer dies, thermal imagers for military, industry and security, Guide Infrared and Global Sensor Technology have developed a tiny module with low pixel count for smartphones. The Guide Infrared module is a direct competitor to Flir’s Lepton3 thermal cameras and the Seek Thermal smartphone module.

Guide Infrared has a broad range of products from thermal camera plug-ins for smartphones to focal plane array detectors, cores and thermal cameras for military. All the products integrate their uncooled detector die. Today, the 17µm and 12µm microbolometers are the most used sensors in Guide products.

This full reverse costing study has been conducted to provide insight into technology design, the manufacturing cost and selling price of microbolometer detector GST117W and the infrared module with the ceramic substrate, the plastic support and the infrared lens. Guide has selected O-Film, the leader in the camera module assembly, to make the module.

The microbolometer use vanadium oxide technology and a 17µm pixel width. The integration into a 680mm3 volume is allowed by the wafer level package technology developed by Guide. With a definition of 120×90 pixels, the microbolometer is designed for consumer low definition markets, including smartphones, pocket thermal imagers and intelligent buildings.

Along with the complete technical analysis of the microbolometer components, this report includes a technical and cost comparison between Guide Infrared Module, Flir Lepton 3 and IRay RTD3172.

Overview/Introduction

• Executive Summary
• Reverse Costing Methodology

Company Profile and Market Analysis

Physical Analysis

• Summary of the Physical Analysis
• Guide Infrared Module
  • Package views
  • Die overview and dimensions
  • Die process
  • Die cross-section
  • Die process characteristics

Manufacturing Process Flow

• GST117W
• Global Overview
• ROIC Wafer
• Microbolometer Wafer
• Process Flow

Cost Analysis

• Yield Explanations and Hypotheses
• ROIC Front-End Cost
• Microbolometer Wafer and Die Cost
• IR Window Cost
• Package Cost
• Component Cost

Price Estimation

Technical and Cost Comparison

• Guide Infrared Module, Flir Lepton 3, IRay RTD3172

• IRay Technology 12µm and 17µm Thermal Sensors
• Melexis Far Infrared Thermal Sensor MLX90640
• Heimann Sensor 32 x 32-array thermopile LWIR image sensor with silicon lens
• FLIR Boson – a small, innovative, low power, smart thermal camera core
• BCD Technology and Cost Comparison 2021
• IRay T3S Thermal Camera for Smartphone
• Fan-Out Packaging Processes Comparison 2020
• BCD Technology and Cost Comparison 2020
• Piezoelectric Material From Bulk to Thin Film – Comparison 2019
• Particle Sensor Comparison 2019