Thermal characterization of a hot-electron micro-bolometer

We report on a hot-electron micro-bolometer fabricated by electron beam lithography consisting of a small normal-metal absorber capacitively coupled to a planar antenna. Both the thermometer and the coupling capacitors are made by sub-micron normal metal-insulator-superconductor junctions. By adding two extra Andreev contacts to the absorber it is possible to characterize the bolometer by de measurements. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.