Data acquisition sensitivity determination of a sensor-on-a-chip integrated microsystem

• Published in: Proceedings of IEEE Sensors, 2004 pp. 1297 - 1300 vol.3
• Main Authors: Kim, D.D., Brooke, M.A., Jokerst, N.M., Lillie, J.J., Thomas, M.A., Ralph, S.E.
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: Piscataway NJ IEEE 2004
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Circuit properties; CMOS process; Communication, education, history, and philosophy; Data acquisition; Electric, optical and optoelectronic circuits; Electronics; Exact sciences and technology; General equipment and techniques; Instruments, apparatus, components and techniques common to several branches of physics and astronomy; Integrated optics. Optical fibers and wave guides; Optical and optoelectronic circuits; Optical device fabrication; Optical interferometry; Optical sensors; Optical signal processing; Optical waveguides; Optoelectronic devices; Photodetectors; Physics; Physics literature and publications; Semiconductor electronics. Microelectronics. Optoelectronics. Solid state devices; Sensor arrays; Sensors (chemical, optical, electrical, movement, gas, etc.); remote sensing; Silicon; Metal oxides; Data acquisition; Signal processing; Photodetectors; Silicon; Readout systems; Sensors; Experimental study; Optical waveguides; Analog to digital converters
• ISBN: 0780386922; 9780780386921
• DOI: 10.1109/ICSENS.2004.1426419

A sensor-on-a-chip integrated microsystem was implemented through standard silicon (Si) complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) fabrication and optical waveguide integration processes. The fabricated Si CMOS chip has embedded lateral pnp bipolar junction transistor (BJT) photodetector arrays and low-noise analog front-ends for signal conditioning and photodetector support. An array of parallel mixed-signal oversampled noise-shaping analog-to-digital converter (ADC) circuits was implemented as a sensor readout system. Mach Zehnder interferometric optical waveguides were post-processed on the fabricated chip surface. The electrical and optical sensitivity of the sensor Si CMOS integrated circuit signal processing components is reported, and optical sensitivity of 100 pW is inferred from measured data.