between electrode surfaces 20 and 24 at only one or more corners of a pyroelectric detector after it has been delineated thus forming an electrical contact the non conducting epoxy is placed on the remaining surfaces for generalized mechanical bonding in fig1 g the openings 12a 12b and 12c of fig1 a have been filled with a second material 18 openings 12a 12b and 12c have been back filled with a second material 18 in a preferred embodiment of the present invention the second material 18 is glycol phylate wax which hardens at room temperature and which is dissolvable in a solvent such as acetone the purpose of material 18 is to provide mechanical strength to the substrate during the fabrication process although glycol phylate wax is the preferred material for use in the present invention other materials may be used provided that they are hard at room temperature and are capable of later being removed the preferred removal technique is by dissolving the second material the solvent must dissolve material 18 without affecting substrate 10 or the pyroelectric detector in fig1 h pyroelectric body 22 is reduced in thickness to the final desired thickness in preferred embodiments this thickness is approximately 10 microns the thickness reduction is preferably performed by a combination of mechanical polishing and chemical etching in fig1 i front side electrode 26 is formed on pyroelectric body 22 electrode 26 is preferably gold or platinum and is blackened to increase the absorption of thermal radiation once the front.