The Internet Foundation
Solving Global Problems using the Internet

SEMI seminar on SpectroChip

Richard K Collins Assistive Technologies February 21, 2024

Kevin, Sean – Thanks for the presentation and discussion

I made many comments. Thank you for responding.  The need is for hundreds of millions of these. Since there are also array applications, possibly billions.To use with cell phone, you can use the FLIR thermal sensor approach which is USB C plug-in to the phone, or laptop or tablet. Then point and shoot. I will reiterate that the detector and data handling is as, or more, important than the grating and optical path.  Lidar and thermal (-20 to 100 Celsius) and flame monitoring in SWIR and NIR and optical)  could both improve, if they had better camera sensor systems. About 35 years ago I worked at Phillips Petroleum. Even then lidar could be used to monitor facilities for leaks with whole facility 3D chemical imaging.

I keep track of all sensors and technologies, their markets, economic and social impacts, on the Internet.

There are several people and small groups making grating based visible spectrometers for Pi and other operating systems.  Likely one can make a master grating using your methods, then cast or press the grating mirror in low cost materials for consumer and daily use.  The applications can be huge – “app for monitoring fresh fruit — during production, in the store, by the consumer”

I try to review many things, but cannot afford that much for a prototype.  If you are looking at Pi, you might want to consider open communities and help them develop the markets.  You are just a few people, and there are 8000 Million humans now, most could benefit from low cost spectroscopy.

I also follow UV, XUV, soft x-ray up through gamma ray spectroscopy. Even neutrino astronomy groups. My education is quantum chemistry and gravitational imaging arrays. But I worked in international economic and social impacts, 50 year planning for all countries and industries.  I set up the Famine Early Warning System (FEWS.net) and the last 25 years, the Internet Foundation.  There are many humans now who die because there is no way to determine the composition of things.

I want to get to isotopic sensitivity. I am currently tracking all nuclear and atomic data on the Internet ( I review their sites and encourage open methods and best practices for using the Internet for all people, not just a few).

Richard Collins, The Internet Foundation

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My comments:
Q: It should be less expensive to use a flexible shaped image sensor, rather than changing the grating. Many applications only need palm sized, not SD card size. Food, health, agriculture, security, chemical monitoring
Q: Also high need for multispectral imaging, not just slit. Out to 18 micron wavelength in the thermal infrared.
Q: CMOS is now about 0.5 nanometer pixel size and 200 MegaPixel. With gallium and other detector extending from ultraviolet to thermal infrared. Parallel there is THz, mm wave and other spectra. Lidar is changing that to large scale chemical monitoring.
Q: Frame rates are in the 10,000 frames per second. Raspberry pi even can do 1000 fps for narrow region (slit) applications.
Q: The applications did not list clinical and home medical. Wearables. It might be in your “biomedical” but much larger.
Q: You are doing great things, but the needs are great.
Q: I would like to use one – pi4,pi5, windows, linux, arduino, nvidia.
Q: Your detector(s) and integrated software and processing has many uses in its own right. Right now, for the applications you mention the alternatives are expensive, big and not well integated or integrateable. Also thermal imaging (humans, security, medical, home medical, inspection) is exploding – but limited because the detection is not well handled for systems.
Richard K Collins

About: Richard K Collins

Director, The Internet Foundation Studying formation and optimized collaboration of global communities. Applying the Internet to solve global problems and build sustainable communities. Internet policies, standards and best practices.

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