Single Pixel MEMS Spectrometer using Electrothermal Tunable Grating

TL;DR

This paper introduces a compact, MEMS-based spectrometer with a tunable diffraction grating and single-pixel detection, achieving high spectral resolution and broad range suitable for portable spectral analysis in various fields.

Contribution

The work presents a fully packaged, miniaturized MEMS spectrometer with electrothermal tuning and high dispersive diffraction, enabling high-resolution VIS-NIR spectroscopy in a small form factor.

Findings

Spectral range up to 800 nm achieved.

Average spectral resolution of 1.96 nm.

Compact size of 1.7 cm³.

Abstract

Miniaturized spectrometers are widely used for non-destructive and on-field spectral analysis. Here we report a tunable grating-based MEMS spectrometer for visible to near-infrared (VIS-NIR) spectroscopy. The MEMS spectrometer consists of a spherical mirror and an electrothermally actuated tunable grating. The spectrometer detects the dispersed spectral signal with a single-pixel detector by tilting the diffraction grating. The large tilting angle from electrothermal actuation and highly dispersive diffraction grating improves the spectral range and resolution, respectively. The MEMS spectrometer was fully packaged within 1.7 cm3 and provides a measurable spectral range up to 800 nm with an average 1.96 nm spectral resolution. This miniaturized single-pixel spectrometer can provide diverse applications for advanced mobile spectral analysis in agricultural, industrial, or medical fields.