Integrated CMOS spectrometers

A spectrometer, comprising:

• a semiconductor having a silicon substrate and a light transmissive surface, said semiconductor having a plurality of pn junctions located above said substrate at different fixed depths from said surface, said pn junctions generating respective and independent output signals representative of unique depth-related spectral sensitivity functions;
• a signal processing circuit for modifying said output signals from said pn junctions with respective weights, said weighted output signals together being representative of a specific spectral response to an input spectra radiating said pn junctions;
• and,
• said semiconductor and said signal processing circuit being formed by only standard CMOS semiconductor materials, masks and fabrication steps.

A method for manufacturing a spectrometer, comprising the steps of:

• providing a plurality of sites on a silicon substrate which have different junction depths and different polycrystalline silicon and oxide coverings, each of said sites having an independent spectral response to an input spectra;
• integrating said sites with a circuit for respectively weighting and summing said spectral responses from said sites, by using said standard semiconductor processing, said weighted signals representing a specific spectral response of said input spectra;
• and,
• implementing said providing and integrating steps using only standard CMOS semiconductor materials, masks and fabrication steps.