New Increased Sensitivity Thumb-Sized MOEMS Mini-Spectrometer for Visible Light Spectrometry from Hamamatsu

Building on the success of the original C10988MA, Hamamatsu Photonics introduce the new C10988MA-01, offering greatly increased sensitivity. At the peak sensitivity of 450nm, the C10988MA-01 offers an increase in sensitivity of over 70% compared to the previous version.

The C10988MA-01 is a unique, ultra-compact spectrometer built using MOEMS technology. The C10988MA-01 is a thumb-sized device, measuring only 27.6 x 13 x 16.8 mm, developed for use in portable and hand-held devices, where a standard mini-spectrometer would be too large and consume too much power. Not only small, but the C10988MA-01 is also light, weighing only 9 grams.

To achieve such a small size required the combination of Hamamatsu’s MEMS and image sensor technologies. The new device uses an aberration-corrected concave grating with a very short focal length, and a blazed grating profile for high diffraction efficiency. The grating is replicated onto the top of a convex glass lens using nano-print technology. Directly opposite the grating is placed a dedicated CMOS silicon image sensor with an on-chip slit. This 75 µm x 750 µm slit is formed into the CMOS chip using MEMS technology. The distance between the sensor and slit is only 1 mm, whilst the grating to image sensor distance a mere 8.5 mm.

Through the use of these novel techniques, the C10988MA-01 can offer a spectral resolution of 14 nm in the wavelength range of 340 nm to 750 nm, making it ideal for a range of visible light applications requiring a miniaturised spectrometer head. To aid initial evaluation Hamamatsu offer a dedicated driver board, the C11351, with USB 2.0 connectivity and 16 bit A/D resolution. This is Hamamatsu working at the forefront of today’s MOEMS technologies, to bring unique and exciting products to an ever demanding market.