NanoLambda, a venture company founded by Bill Choi, who worked at Samsung Electronics, has developed an ultra-small spectroscopic sensor. Although the size is only 5mm square, it supports a wavelength range of 380 to 1050nm (Fig. 1). Existing spectroscopic sensors with the same functions are not only large in size, but also cost hundreds of thousands of yen to millions of yen. If this sensor can ensure a certain mass production scale, the price is expected to drop to about $10.
nanoLambda named the 5mm square spectroscopic sensor "apollo" and has begun to offer the development kit "Application Development Kit" (ADK). Mass production trial production is expected to begin at the end of 2015 and supply will begin in spring 2016.
Compared with the conventional spectroscopic sensor, the volume of apollo is reduced to less than 1/10, and the cost is expected to be reduced to 1/100 or less. The most important feature is that more than 1,000 filters have been fabricated on the surface of light-detecting semiconductor chips with a volume of less than 5 mm square. These filters classify the light according to the wavelength and then deliver it to the photodiode.
Splitting by surface plasmon resonance
Microfilters are implemented using surface plasmon resonance phenomena. Surface plasmon resonance refers to a phenomenon in which electrons in a metal resonate with electromagnetic waves (light). In order to resonate only at a specific wavelength, nanoscale micropores are provided. By working on the shape and configuration, it is possible to select light of 380 to 1050 nm. UV and infrared detection can also be supported if the shape and configuration of the filter's holes are changed.
The "nano imprint" technique is used in the fabrication of filters using surface plasmon resonance phenomena. The nanoimprinting means that a pattern engraved with a fine pattern is pressed onto a substrate or the like like a stamp to transfer a pattern.
The filter that is equipped with apollo commissioned by nanoLambda is the Japanese venture company SCIVAX located in Kawasaki. The company's president, Tanaka, confidently said, "Using nanoimprint technology, it has established a technology that can precisely produce tiny filters on the surface of semiconductor chips." "There are more than 1,000 kinds of filters that can produce high-efficiency patterns with different characteristics. Nano-embossing has the unique advantage. With semiconductor technology, there are too many patterns and cannot be optimized," said Kitahara Sato, senior manager of the company's technical business department.
In order to mass produce apollo filters, SCIVAX will introduce a new manufacturing process, the "NOC (Nanoimprint On Circuit wafer)" technology for making masks on wafers using nanoimprint technology. SCIVAX received a wafer on which a transistor and a wiring have been formed, and a metal film is evaporated thereon. SCIVAX uses a NOC process to form a filter on a metal film.
Nanoimprinting on bumped wafers
The specific process flow of NOC is as follows (Figure 2). First, a photosensitive material (photoresist) is coated on the surface of the metal film on the wafer, and then a template engraved with the filter pattern is pressed thereon. The stencil is transparent and is irradiated with ultraviolet (UV) light to harden the photoresist to which the stencil pattern has been printed. The patterned photoresist can be seen by peeling off the template. Using this as a mask and performing an etching process completes the filter on the metal film.
Nanoimprinting is usually done on a smooth surface. Tanaka of SCIVAX said, "Nano-imprinting on the surface of a bumpy wafer that forms a circuit is usually impossible."
In order to uniformly perform nanoimprinting on the wafer as a whole, the alignment accuracy is also improved. The NOC achieves a registration accuracy of ±1 to 3 μm. Tanaka said confidently, "Other competing companies can't reach less than 10μm. In the overall nanoimprint, this is the absolute leading alignment accuracy."
SCIVAX began manufacturing apollo filters from the end of 2015. The production-receiving factory in Toyama Prefecture, which was put into production in the spring of 2015, is in charge of mass production. This is the first time that SCIVAX has undertaken mass production business using nanoimprint technology.
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