Non-invasive, continuous and accurate health monitoring is a must, to detect early symptoms and prevent possible disasters, and to personalize the healthcare while dramatically reducing ever growing healthcare cost. The optical spectrometer, widely used in various industries, can do such non-invasive and accurate measurement. For example, blood glucose level, can be measured just by shining a light on skin, measuring the internally reflected light and analyzing the unique spectral fingerprint of glucose contents. However, optical spectrometers tend to be far been too bulky, expensive and difficult to use in consumer devices.
A Korean startup has developed a spectrometer that is tiny, affordable and easy to use. This spectrometer-on-a-chip is 1% the size of conventional solutions and can be incorporated easily into consumer devices and smart appliances (mobile phone, wearable, etc) as part of the Internet of Things (IOT).
This spectrum sensor does not use an optical grating that is used in conventional spectrometers for spectral analysis. Instead, it has a bespoke filter array based on an innovative plasmonic filter.
Developed using digital nano fusion technology, this miniaturised low cost spectrometer measures individual light wavelengths that selectively pass through nanostructures to determine its makeup. It is accurate to 1 nm with 10nm resolution.
The spectrometer has a built-in advanced spectral signal processing and standard SPI or UART interface, and is individually calibrated nano-accurately and provides device-to-device repeatability. The spectral databases for applications are portable and reusable, as the data measured by this spectrometer is compatible with the spectrum data measured by conventional optical spectrum analysers.
This spectrometer technology is versatile and offers the potential to provide spectral measurement and analysis in the following target markets:
The spectral sensor market is anticipated to be around $4~8 billion in 2026, as a key enabling sensing element of wearable health monitoring market($140B), Agri-Food quality and safety sensing market($16B), environment monitoring market($12B), and more.
This ultra-compact and low-cost spectrometer technology offers advantages over discrete optical sensing with its broadband snapshot with accurate, multi-function noise-robust information. In terms of measurement, it offers the following benefits: