SBIR Phase II: Micromachined Planar Single Pixel Photomultiplier Tube (PMT)

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This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project focuses on producing a miniature photomultiplier for detection of light signals traveling on fiber-optic networks and for use as on-board high speed optical detection for chemical sensing in lab-on-a-chip and DNA sequencing systems. Integrated optics for digital and analog data transmission and analog sensors can benefit from the high-speed miniature photodectors (1 GHz). Solid state detectors are available with very high bandwidth or high gain, but not both simultaneously. A high (1,000) detector operated at low power with high speed and large dynamic range, and that could be integrated onto a silicon circuit would have value, especially as a fiber-optic receiver and sensor. We propose a micromachined vacuum photomultiplier employing dynode secondary electron emission gain, a Planar Micromachined PhotoMultiplier Tube (PMPMT). Such a device would make a superior chip-scale integrable high gain fiber-optic (FO) receiver, capable of substantially lowering the power performance requirements of gigabit/s laser diode FO transmitters, the cost-barrier to ultra-high speed WAN networks. Such a device would also enable truly field portable test equipment for chemical, biochemical and medical diagnostics. If this project is successful it could usher in a revolutionary new fiber optic sensor for telecommunciations networks. Additional commercial applications exist in biomedical and chemical analysis labs-on-a-chip where a high speed optical detector can revolutionize rapid analyses such as DNA screening or chemical or toxin identification.