ACED Fab: On-chip CMOS-MEMS Infrared Spectroscopy Systems

ACED Fab：片上 CMOS-MEMS 红外光谱系统

• 批准号: 2314932
• 负责人: Juan Sebastian Gomez Diaz
• 金额: $ 50万
• 依托单位: University of California-Davis
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-07-01 至 2026-06-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2314932&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: ACED; Fab; chip; CMOS; MEMS

Metabolites, gases, and many chemicals are structurally unique and exhibit distinctive absorptive fingerprints in the infrared spectrum band. The accurate detection and tracking of such spectrum using portable devices carry enormous potential and would enable many applications, including real-time health monitoring, gas detection, spectroscopy, imaging, the identification of hazardous materials, etc. Common infrared spectrometers rely on Fourier Transform system (FTIR) that are bulky, expensive, incompatible with integrated circuits, and unsuitable for real-life applications. Here, rooted on a synergetic collaborative effort between U.S. and Taiwan groups, an on-chip infrared spectroscopy system operating at room temperature and able to scan from ~ 1.5μm to 10 μm using a large number of channels will be demonstrated. The system relies on the integration of an array of miniaturized and spectrally-selective infrared sensors fabricated in the US, and CMOS chips fabricated in Taiwan that implement state of the art noise-suppression and interrogation techniques. The proposed on-chip infrared spectroscopy platform constitutes a significant step forward in the field of infrared technologies, moving beyond bulky and expensive Fourier Transform-based spectrometers into miniaturized, affordable, and mass-production ready devices. The potential applications enabled by such systems include sensing, communications, imaging, and spectroscopy, among many others. On the educational front, this project will provide multidisciplinary training to graduate and undergraduate students on a variety of scientific areas such as CMOS technologies, infrared sensing, mechanical resonators, metamaterials, and device fabrication and characterization; integrate research results with education activities, including the incorporation of research content in graduate courses and its broad dissemination through journal papers and scientific conferences; and encourage the participation and retention of women and Hispanic students - the PIs can serve as role model- in STEM and research. Moving beyond, this program will foster the collaboration between US and Taiwan researchers and set the foundations for long-term partnerships and scientific interactions. The goal of this project is to demonstrate an on-chip infrared spectroscopy system able to scan from ~ 1.5μm to 10 μm using a massive number of parallel channels while exhibiting a performance able to surpass competing technologies operating at room temperature. To this purpose, a large array spectrally-selective infrared sensors will be fabricated on a single chip at the UC Davis cleanroom, whereas RF interrogating and noise-suppression schemes will be implemented on a CMOS chip that will be fabricated at the Taiwan Semiconductor Research Institute (TSRI). Heterogeneous integration and packaging will also be carried out at the TSRI. The key building-block is an infrared detector based on nano-patterning ultrathin and high-Q metasurfaces on top of free-space standing microelectromechanical systems (MEMSs) to efficiently absorb light with desired spectral distribution. Each MEMS, designed to achieve a high mechanical quality factor and to absorb targeted wavelengths, will be excited at resonance by a RF signal whose phase and amplitude changes with the absorbed infrared power. To enhance the system performance, the detector will include two MEMS per released cavity, one serving as the reference and the other as the sensor. Exploiting I/Q signals for reference/sensing paths, the phase/amplitude variations of both units will be obtained and processed to highly suppress common mode and environmental noises (electrical, mechanical, optical, thermal) as well as the electronic readout circuit noises and non-idealities. In addition to significant noise reduction, the use of CMOS technology will permit to interrogate simultaneously a larger array of parallel sensors on a chip, and to multiplex their signals towards an output channel. This program will lay the foundational groundwork and demonstrate miniaturized, ultra-sensitive, low-noise, on-chip IR spectroscopy systems able to compete with state-of-the-art FTIR technologies operating at room temperature while strengthening the partnership and scientific interactions between USA and Taiwan.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

代谢物，气体和许多化学物质在红外光谱带中是结构独特且暴露的独特吸收指纹。使用便携式设备对此类光谱进行准确检测和跟踪具有可增强的潜力，并可以实现许多应用，包括实时健康监测，气体检测，光谱，成像，识别危险材料等。常见的红外光谱仪依赖于傅立叶变换系统（FTIR），这些系统（FTIR）是庞大的，昂贵的，不可能用于集成的透气和不合时宜的循环和不合时宜的，并且是实况不合适的。在这里，将植根于美国和台湾群体之间的协同协作努力，将展示在室温下运行的片上红外光谱系统，并可以使用大量通道在室温下运行，并能够从〜1.5μm到10μm扫描。该系统依赖于在美国制造的一系列微型和频谱选择红外传感器的整合，以及在台湾制造的CMOS芯片，这些芯片实现了最先进的噪声抑制和询问技术。拟议的片上感染的光谱平台在感染技术领域构成了重要的一步，超越了笨重且昂贵的基于傅立叶变换的光谱仪，成为微型化，负担得起和质量生产的准备设备。此类系统启用的潜在应用包括传感，通信，成像和光谱法等。在教育方面，该项目将在各种科学领域（例如CMOS技术，红外传感，机械谐振器，超材料以及设备的制造和表征）提供多学科培训；综合研究结果与教育活动，包括在研究生课程中纳入研究内容及其通过期刊论文和科学会议的广泛传播；并鼓励妇女和西班牙裔学生的参与和保留 - PI可以充当STEM和研究中的榜样。超越该计划将促进我们与台湾研究人员之间的合作，并为长期伙伴关系和科学互动树立基础。该项目的目的是展示一种芯片红外光谱系统，能够使用大量的平行通道扫描约1.5μm至10μm，同时表现出能够在室温下运行的竞争技术的性能。为此，将在UC Davis Cleanroom的单个芯片上制造一个较大的频谱选择红外传感器，而RF审问和噪声支持方案将在CMOS芯片上实施，CMOS将在台湾半导体研究所（TSRI）制造。 TSRI也将进行异质整合和包装。钥匙建筑块是基于自由空间站立微电动系统（MEMSS）的纳米体现超薄和高Q元面的红外探测器，可有效吸收具有所需光谱分布的光线。每个MEMS旨在获得高机械质量因子并吸收靶向波长，将对RF信号的共振感到兴奋，RF信号的相位和放大器随吸收的红外功率而变化。为了增强系统性能，检测器将包括每个释放的腔体两个MEM，一个作为参考，另一个用作传感器。利用I/Q信号进行参考/传感路径，将获得并处理两个单元的相/振幅变化，以高度抑制共同的模式和环境噪声（电气，机械，光学，热，热）以及电子读取电路噪声和非视野。除了大幅度降低噪声外，CMOS技术的使用还可以允许在芯片上简单地询问较大的平行传感器，并将其信号沿输出通道进行多重多重。该计划将奠定基础基础工作，并展示小型，超敏感，低噪声，芯片红外光谱系统可以与在室温下运行的最先进的FTIR技术竞争，同时加强了美国和台湾之间的伙伴关系，这表明了NSF的稳定范围和台阶的范围。 标准。