In this article, we report the design and fabrication for planar-type incandescent microfilaments on the silicon on insulator (SOI) wafer. The micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) process with XeF 2 etching is used to construct the suspension structure for the reduction of thermal conduction. The fabricated line-type microfilament has a low operation voltage of 4 V. Besides, the operation voltages for the 1 × 4, 5 × 5, 6 × 6, and 7 × 7 arrays at 50 mtorr are 4.0, 9.0, 9.5, and 9.5 V,

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... vely. The 1 × 4 array filament exhibits the measured lifetime of 200 hrs and the predicted lifetime of about 570 hrs. The microfilament has a continuous broadband spectrum that covers from visible light extended to over 3 µm, which is a suitable light source for near-infrared spectroscopy. INDEX TERMS Near-infrared spectroscopy, microfilament, array, MEMS, lifetime.