Emberion to present graphene photonics developments at LASER

12 Jun 2019

Various new products and associated software will be on show at LASER World of Photonics event.

Finland-based graphene-photonics company Emberion, which spun off from Nokia in 2016, is exhibiting several eye-catching products later this month at LASER World of PHOTONICS in Munich, which runs June 24th to 27th.

The company has developed expertise in combining graphene and nanostructured optical absorbers with custom-designed read-out integrated circuits (ROIC). Its design and fabrication of custom ROICs incorporating nanomaterials has enabled Emberion to develop high-performance infrared detector products for a broad range of wavelengths from visible light to the thermal range.

At LASER it will be presenting its novel, high-performance visible-through-shortwave infrared (VIS-SWIR) detectors and detailing its progress around thermal detector development.<./p>

The company announcement stated, “We would be excited in sharing our recent achievements with you so you are most welcome to visit us at the Machine Vision Pavilion in Hall A2, Stand 113/3.

Emberion will also be showcasing a fully packaged linear array detector designed specifically for VIS-SWIR spectroscopy. This product will be commercially available this fall [2019] and the company will also be sharing detailed specifications and latest performance measurements results related to this development.

The second product on show will be the VIS-SWIR VGA image sensor, which is intended for machine and night vision as well as hyperspectral imaging. This will be available commercially from spring 2020. Both of these detectors cover spectral range of 400 to 1800 nm, offering what the company calls “excellent detectivity and [they will] provide a new cost-competitive alternative to VIS-SWIR detection.”

What is more, Emberion has also been chosen as finalist for the LASER World of Photonics Innovation Award.

Nanomaterials and absorbers

Emberion says its know-how in integrating optically-absorbing materials with graphene transducers provides “a versatile way of creating sensors and detectors on CMOS ROIC substrates for diverse applications.”

The company has developed sensor device structures and manufacturing methods combining nanocrystalline optical absorbers with graphene-based transistors, enabling photodetection from visible (VIS, 400 nm) to SWIR (1800 nm) wavelengths. Its semiconducting nanocrystalline material enables convenient fabrication directly on standard CMOS wafers.The company adds that this is “a major advantage” compared to the hybrid packaging processes required for competing semiconductor heterosubstrate-based transducers, such as InGaAs-photodiodes, which suffer from decreased yield, reliability and higher manufacturing cost.

Emberion employs different colloidal quantum dot materials that can be integrated reliably on graphene transducers and can be tailored to meet specific wavelength range and response curve requirements.

The company is also developing MEMS devices in which a suspended pyroelectric substrate structure absorbs thermal radiation and acts as a modulator for the graphene-transistor. These microbolometer devices are sensitive to MWIR and LWIR thermal radiation and can be tuned to be selective to specific spectral ranges by modifying antenna structures on the pyroelectric film.

Future research

Emberion’s technologies are based on materials that can be deposited on diverse substrates, including flexible ones. Functional photodetector arrays can be produced on flexible polymer substrates or on rigid glass substrates. The combination of very high performance, cost-efficient manufacturing, and deposition on potentially flexible, large area substrates is unique proposition creating new applications and business opportunities for our customers.

Based on similar graphene transducers, it is possible to combine Emberion’s VIS-SWIR photodetectors and thermal detectors at the pixel level on a single die creating a multispectral detector array. In this way, states the company, “we are able to cover broad spectral ranges with a single imaging sensor, offering a compact high-performance broadband imaging solution.”

Emberion is a spin-off from Nokia and was co-founded in 2016 by employees and Verso Ventures, a Finnish venture capital company specializing in spin-offs and growth companies. The chairman of Emberion’s board is Verso Ventures’ Managing Partner Anssi Kariola.