Investigation of a method for integration of optical nanoprobes with CMOS photodetection circuitry

In this thesis, we demonstrated and analyzed a method of integrating optical nanoprobes with CMOS photodetection circuitry. The integrated device could potentially be used to produce a compact near field optical scanning microscopy (NSOM) system.;The method studied involves the fabrication of V-grooves on the CMOS chip using a CMOS compatible MEMS etching process and other supplementary microfabrication techniques. Once they are fabricated on the CMOS chip, the V-grooves can be used to align the nanoprobes with the CMOS compatible photodetectors. This passive mounting strategy will reduce the packaging cost associated with aligning nanoprobes and the photodetection circuitry. Also, it helps to lower the optical noises and enhance the signal to noise ratio.;In addition to describing the integration strategy, the design and analysis of a low noise, high performances analog photodetection circuit was presented along with test results using optical nanoprobes commercially available. Understanding of these key components is critical to the development of a fully integrated compact NSOM system. The optical nanoprobe device is based on a nanoprobe fabrication process recently developed by collaborators at the University of Cincinnati. In the design of CMOS compatible photodetection circuitry, new circuits have been developed to allow detection of the extremely low optical signal which is expected from optical nanoprobes. By integrating the nanoprobe and photodetection circuits we expect to significantly enhance the feasibility of integrated optical nanoprobe technologies for application that could benefit from a compact NSOM system.