US Patent:
20060193356, Aug 31, 2006
Inventors:
Robert Osiander - Ellicott City MD, US
Andreas Andreou - Baltimore MD, US
Francisco Tejada - Miami FL, US
Danielle Wesolek - Washington DC, US
Joseph Miragliotta - Ellicott City MD, US
Philippe Pouliquen - Baltimore MD, US
Dennis Wickenden - Woodbine MD, US
International Classification:
H01S 3/00
G01B 9/02
Abstract:
A scalable architecture based in silicon on sapphire (SOS) CMOS for building an interferometric optical detection system to sense the motion of a resonating MEMS device or to detect the motion of any object to which the system is packaged. The SOS CMOS device is packaged with both vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs) and MEMS devices. The optical transparency of the sapphire substrate together with the ultra thin silicon PIN photodiodes available in the SOS process allows for the design of both a Michelson-type and Fabry-Perot-type interferometer. The detectors, signal processing electronics and VCSEL drivers are built on the SOS CMOS for a complete system.