SBIR Phase I: Micro-Electromechanical Systems (MEMS)-Based Near-Zero Power Infrared Sensors for Proximity Detection

SBIR 第一阶段：基于微机电系统 (MEMS) 的近零功耗红外传感器，用于接近检测

• 批准号: 2304549
• 负责人: Zhenyun Qian
• 金额: $ 27.5万
• 依托单位: ZEPSOR TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2024-01-15 至 2024-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2304549&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; Micro; Electromechanical; Systems; SBIR; Phase; Micro; Electromechanical; Systems

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project seeks the development of a first-of-its-kind proximity sensor that consumes near-zero power at standby for touchless interface applications. The proximity detector is based on a proprietary micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) infrared detector technology that is more accurate, more compact, and 100 times more power efficient than any existing infrared detector technology. The innovation is a digitized, ultra-low power, uncooled infrared detector. The total addressable market for this proximity sensor is estimated to be ~$4.7 billion in 2023, with a serviceable obtainable market of hundreds of millions for the technology. Although the market for proximity and presence sensing is extremely broad, the team has chosen to target touchless faucets and auto sanitizer dispensers as the go-to-market applications due to the technology and market readiness. The product and its commercialization process are expected to create societal and economic impacts in four areas including conservation of resources, hygiene promotion, and enhanced partnerships between university and industry. The intellectual merit of this project includes the first demonstration of a near-zero power proximity sensor with a wide field-of-view, tunable detection range, and temperature stability in a relevant indoor environment. State-of-the-art sensors drain battery power continuously regardless of the presence of target signal. The team recently broke the fundamental paradigm of wasting energy in standby mode with the invention of a completely passive sensor microsystem that can detect and discriminate events of interest by exploiting only the energy contained in their specific physical signatures. Remaining challenges for chip-scale hand detection include efficiently harvesting the tiny amount of thermal energy emitted by a hand to trigger a micromechanical photo-switch while achieving a high level of immunity to background temperature changes. A new plasmonically-enhanced, long-wave infrared absorber, a threshold tuning mechanism, and vacuum packaging are developed and expected to lead to the demonstration of a miniaturized prototype capable of reliably detecting a hand at 2-10 cm distance, while consuming less than 1 microamp current in standby mode.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

这项小型企业创新研究（SBIR）I阶段项目正在寻求开发首个邻近传感器，该传感器在备用界面的接口应用程序中消耗了接近零功率。该接近探测器基于专有的微电动系统（MEMS）红外探测器技术，该技术比任何现有的红外探测器技术都更准确，更紧凑，功率更高。该创新是数字化的超低功率，未冷却的红外探测器。该接近传感器的总可寻址市场估计在2023年为47亿美元，可获得数亿美元的可获得市场。尽管接近性和存在感的市场非常广泛，但由于技术和市场准备就绪，该团队选择针对无触摸的水龙头和自动消毒剂分配器作为进入市场的应用。预计该产品及其商业化过程将在四个领域产生社会和经济影响，包括资源保护，卫生促进以及大学与工业之间的伙伴关系。该项目的智力优点包括在相关室内环境中首次演示具有广泛视野，可调检测范围和温度稳定性的接近零功率接近传感器。最先进的传感器不断耗尽电池电量，无论目标信号的存在如何。该团队最近通过一个完全被动的传感器微型系统发明了浪费能量的基本范例，该系统可以通过仅利用其特定物理特征中所含的能量来检测和区分感兴趣的事件。芯片规模的手发现的剩余挑战包括有效收集手发出的少量热能，以触发微机械照相机开关，同时获得对背景温度变化的高度免疫力。开发并期望开发出一种新的浆液性增强，长波红外吸收器，一种阈值调谐机制和真空包装，并预期可以证明能够在2-10 cm距离以2-10 cm的距离可靠地检测手的小型原型，同时使用nsf的奖励，并在2-10 cm的距离上进行了较少的评估。智力优点和更广泛的影响审查标准。