This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project proposes to implement a low-cost compact, wide-band, and high-resolution on-chip spectrometer and other components for Raman spectroscopy applications. The proposed architecture consists of silicon-nitride (SiN) spectrometer bonded with a silicon detector array to detect the output power of different spectral channels. A bandwidth of 25 nm with a resolution of 0.6 nm will be demonstrated for the proposed spectrometer. A notch-filter for pump rejection (> 25 dB) will also be demonstrated. Appropriate software for data acquisition from the detector array and for compensating any fabrication-induced non-uniformity in the spectral channels will also be developed as part of this work. The spectroscopy chip and the software will then be used to measure spectrum of a wideband source and the results compared with that of a commercial spectrometer.
The broader impact/commercial potential of this project includes low-cost Raman spectroscopy solution for biomedical applications. Raman spectroscopy has shown great promise for many biomedical applications such as blood analysis, and cancer detection. However, the existing Raman spectroscopy solutions are expensive, bulky and well beyond the comprehension of a common medical professional. The proposed solution will be low-cost, accurate and easy to use to allow health care professionals to use this technology to detect cancers and do blood analysis with the same accuracy, faster time, less patient anxiety, and less sample volume than the currently existing tests, which are currently performed in centralized laboratories, require specially trained staff, and are expensive. The silicon-nitride platform (being transparent in visible and NIR wavelength range) will allow easy extension of the on-chip spectroscopy solution for other commercial applications of interest such as fluorescence, and absorption spectroscopy.
