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Advances in cost-effective integrated spectrometers
Summary
Researchers reviewed advances in miniaturizing optical spectrometers — instruments that identify materials by analyzing light — for use in portable, low-cost devices as part of the Internet of Things. The review highlights that while shrinking these devices has advanced significantly, connecting their technical specs to real-world performance needs remains the biggest challenge for mass production.
The proliferation of Internet-of-Things has promoted a wide variety of emerging applications that require compact, lightweight, and low-cost optical spectrometers. While substantial progresses have been made in the miniaturization of spectrometers, most of them are with a major focus on the technical side but tend to feature a lower technology readiness level for manufacturability. More importantly, in spite of the advancement in miniaturized spectrometers, their performance and the metrics of real-life applications have seldomly been connected but are highly important. This review paper shows the market trend for chip-scale spectrometers and analyzes the key metrics that are required to adopt miniaturized spectrometers in real-life applications. Recent progress addressing the challenges of miniaturization of spectrometers is summarized, paying a special attention to the CMOS-compatible fabrication platform that shows a clear pathway to massive production. Insights for ways forward are also presented.