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This paper reports on the functional and spectral characterization of a microspectrometer based on a CMOS detector array covered by an IC-Compatible Linear Variable Optical Filter (LVOF). The Fabry-Perot LVOF is composed of 15 dielectric layers with a tapered middle cavity layer, which has been fabricated in an IC-Compatible process using resist reflow. A pattern of trenches is made in a resist layer by lithography and followed by a reflow step result in a smooth tapered resist layer. The lithography mask with the required pattern is designed by a simple geometrical model and FEM simulation of reflow process. The topography of the tapered resist layer is transferred into silicon dioxide layer by an optimized RIE process. The IC-compatible fabrication technique of such a LVOF, makes fabrication directly on a CMOS or CCD detector possible and would allow for high volume production of chip-size micro-spectrometers. The LVOF is designed to cover the 580 nm to 720 spectral range. The dimensions of the fabricated LVOF are 5×5 mm 2 . The LVOF is placed in front of detector chip of a commercial camera to enable characterization. An initial calibration is performed by projecting monochromatic light in the wavelength range of 580 nm to 720 nm on the LVOF and the camera. The wavelength of the monochromatic light is swept in 1 nm steps. The Illuminated stripe region on the camera detector moves as the wavelength is swept. Afterwards, a Neon lamp is used to validate the possibility of spectral measurement. The light from a Neon lamp is collimated and projected on the LVOF on the camera chip. After data acquisition a special algorithm is used to extract the spectrum of the Neon lamp.

A novel scheme for the integration of diffractive optical elements onto silicon is presented. The processing is made in reverse order, meaning that the process of structuring the optical elements on the wafer precedes the silicon microstructuring. The first processing step on the wafer is the hot embossing of the optical microstructures into an amorphous fluorocarbon polymer spin coated on the wafer. The cured polymer forms a highly stable material with excellent optical properties. The remaining silicon processing is thus performed with the diffractive optical elements already in place. Two different diffractive structures were used in the development of the method-a (Fresnel) lens with a rather low f-number and a diffractive element producing a fan-out of a large number of paraxial beams.

Devices combining optical and micromechanical elements have become key components for many applications in recent years. In this paper, we present a novel fabrication process for the integration of polymer micro-optical elements on silicon. The fabrication process relies on a reverse-order protocol in which the diffractive lens is first hot embossed into a polymer layer spin coated onto a silicon wafer and the subsequent process steps are carried out with the lens already in place. This is possible due to an extremely stable and chemically resistant amorphous fluorocarbon polymer, Cytop™, used for lens fabrication. Cytop is a Teflon-like material which exhibits high optical transmittance, excellent adhesion to silicon and resistance to most chemicals used for silicon processing. These properties make it ideally suited for the integration of polymer optical elements with silicon micromechanical components.