A suspended polySi heater is presented for use as a mid-IR light source in a microspectrometer based on a linearly variable optical filter (LVOF). Distributed electrical powering of a segmented structure with a specially designed suspension system is used for obtaining a temperature profile that is constant over the length of the element with a peak temperature significantly higher as compared to the conventional on-chip hot-wires. The integrated LVOF design results in an enhanced spectral emission and facilitates the use in the composition measurement of liquids and gases by absorption spectroscopy.

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Exhaust gas measurement in the harsh environment of the tailpipe of a combustion engine by optical techniques is a highly robust technique, provided that optical access is maintained in the presence of particulate matter (PM). The considerations are presented for the systematic design of membranes with integrated heaters in SiC-on-Si technology for generating a well-defined lateral temperature profile with peak temperatures above 600 °C. Periodically raising the temperature of the membranes to such a level is demonstrated to keep the surface transparent by oxidation of soot deposits. This paper is about continuous heating of the membrane to a temperature slightly higher than that of the exhaust gas. At such temperatures thermophoretic repulsion of PM allows allows long-term optical measurement in the exhaust without the thermo-mechanical loading by repetitive thermal cycling.@en

Exhaust gas measurement in the harsh environment of the tailpipe by optical techniques is a highly robust technique, provided that optical access is maintained in the presence of soot. The design, fabrication, and testing of membranes in SiC-on-Si with integrated heaters to serve as a regenerable MEMS optical window into the tailpipe are presented. Membranes at slightly elevated temperatures are demonstrated to keep the surface transparent by thermophoresis, while surface regeneration is achieved at pulsed high temperatures, which allows long-term optical measurement in the exhaust.

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Ensuring optical transparency over a wide spectral range of a window with a view into the tailpipe of the combustion engine, while it is exposed to the harsh environment of sootcontaining exhaust gas, is an essential pre-requisite for introducing optical techniques for long-term monitoring of automotive emissions. Therefore, a regenerable window composed of an optically transparent polysilicon-carbide membrane with a diameter ranging from 100 µm up to 2000 µm has been fabricated in microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology. In the first operating mode, window transparency is periodically restored by pulsed heating of the membrane using an integrated resistor for heating to temperatures that result in oxidation of deposited soot (600–700 °C). In the second mode, the membrane is kept transparent by repelling soot particles using thermophoresis. The same integrated resistor is used to yield a temperature gradient by continuous moderate-temperature heating. Realized devices have been subjected to laboratory soot exposure experiments. Membrane temperatures exceeding 500 °C have been achieved without damage to the membrane. Moreover, heating of membranes to ΔT = 40 °C above gas temperature provides sufficient thermophoretic repulsion to prevent particle deposition and maintain transparency at high soot exposure, while non-heated identical membranes on the same die and at the same exposure are heavily contaminated.

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The design of a mid-infrared micro-spectrometer based on an array of differently tuned narrow-band metamaterial absorbers is presented. The spectral response is tailored by the design of the unit cell. Each spectral band is composed of a thermopile detector with a 300 ×180 μm² Al-based metamaterial absorber fabricated in a CMOS compatible post-process. The challenges in the fabrication of the sub-μm features within the unit cell over a several mm² absorber area by equipment that is part of the standard infrastructure of a MEMS facility is addressed. The design and fabrication method utilized here for the first time enables the CMOS fabrication of integrated large-area plasmonic components on thermal detectors.

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A robust and highly miniaturized optical gas sensor based on optical absorption spectroscopy is presented. By using the resonator cavity of a linear variable optical filter (LVOF) also as a gas chamber, a compact and robust optical sensor is achieved. The device operates at the 15th order in 3.2–3.4 μm wavelength range for distinguishing hydrocarbons. The physical cavity length at the μm-level is translated into an effective optical absorption path length at the mm-level by the use of highly reflective (R > 98%) Bragg mirrors. The optical design using the Fizeau interferometer approach is described. Moreover, the CMOS-compatible fabrication method is explained. In addition to the wideband and single wavelength filter characterization, absorption of methane in the LVOF cavity is demonstrated at 3392 nm and 3416.60 nm wavelengths.@en