The world’s first combined stimulation and measurement of MEMS sensors using an optical waveguide integrated with the sensor further reduces the need for electronics on chip. It opens further market opportunities as more suitable for explosive environments. Panorama Synergy has demonstrated its ability to simultaneously stimulate the working parts of MEMS sensors and measure their data using the same optical laser. The company also announced that it has lodged two new patent applications related to this breakthrough in Australia and the USA.

Panorama’s optical readout system works by sending an infra-red laser-light through an optical waveguide, which guides the laser light in the same way as an optical fibre would. This is used to sense the movements of tiny micro-cantilevers using very sensitive optical interference and therefore take readings of the MEMS sensor’s motion.

Each micro-cantilever can be coated with a substance that sticks to the specific chemical being measured, therefore changing its rate of vibration. These changes in vibration alter the amount of light that reaches the other side, determining the presence of the chemical being measured. The micro-cantilevers, or working parts of the sensor, vibrate at their natural resonance, but require stimulation to initiate this vibration. Typically this has been initiated through an electrical circuit.

However, in a world first, researchers at the University of Western Australia (UWA) working in collaboration with Panorama, have used that same optical waveguide to initiate the movement of the micro-cantilevers using optical radiation pressure via a short, high powered laser pulse.

This removes the need for another piece of electronics on the chip. The laser, which now both initiates the micro-cantilever movement and provides light to measure its ongoing movements, can either be mounted on the chip with the cantilevers, or placed remotely using an optical fibre to connect it to the chip, which can support multiple sensors.

This means that in environments where it is undesirable to introduce electricity – such as detecting explosives, measuring flammable gases in a mine, or where there is a degree of electrical ‘noise’ or interference in the environment – any electronic components can be located remotely with the sensor itself consisting only of optical components. Furthermore, it potentially reduces the cost of production of the LumiMEMS Reader.

Terry Walsh, Managing Director of Panorama commented: “This new innovation opens up even more market opportunities for the LumiMEMS Reader than have already been identified due to its superior sensitivity and accuracy. It is a good example of the ongoing innovation of this technology from UWA, for which we are extending the global patents. It also further supports our view that the LumiMEMS Reader will become the new industry standard for all MEMS devices.”

Panorama Synergy is a Perth-based technology company focused on the commercial and technological advancement of its optical readout system for MEMS, the LumiMEMS Reader™.

In partnership with UWA, Panorama’s unique technology has been developed by a team of renowned scientists led by Gino Putrino, a world leader in MEMS optical readout systems. In January 2014, the Company entered into a five year extension of its exclusive worldwide licensing agreement with the UWA for optical technologies related to MEMS sensors.

MEMS is an umbrella term used to describe a miniature device which integrates mechanical and electrical elements designed to work together to sense and report on the physical properties of their immediate or local environment, or, when signalled to do so, to perform a controlled physical interaction or actuation with their immediate or local environment.

MEMS machines measure and detect things too small to be measured in any other way. They can be used to detect anything from explosives at an airport to the presence of certain types of cancer from your breath. Current every day applications include detection of rain on your windshield that turns on your automatic wipers; detection of movement to tell your smart phone which way is up; and changes in speed that deploy the airbags in your car. These are some of thousands of other applications involving MEMS.