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Company
Portfolio Data
Back to Company SearchIRIS AO, INC.
UEI: N/A
Number of Employees: 7
HUBZone Owned: No
Woman Owned: No
Socially and Economically Disadvantaged: No
SBIR/STTR Involvement
Year of first award: 2004
13
Phase I Awards
8
Phase II Awards
61.54%
Conversion Rate
$1,338,754
Phase I Dollars
$5,097,209
Phase II Dollars
$6,435,963
Total Awarded
Awards
1015 PTT Segment MEMS DM Development
Amount: $125,000 Topic: S2.01
Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology has the potential to create deformable mirrors (DM) with more than 10^4 actuators with size, weight, and power specifications that are far lower than conventional piezoelectric and electrostrictive DMs. However, considerable development is necessary to take state-of-the-art MEMS DMs and make them flight-like for wavefront control in coronagraphs for exoplanet detection. This Phase I research proposal will begin development of a 1015-segment MEMS DM. It will result in a completed CAD layout of the DM, a conceptual package design, a conceptual electrical probe card design, and the fabrication of a key layer in the actuator process to demonstrate high-resolution field-stitched photolithography. The ultimate goal is to develop flight-like hardware based on Iris AO?s proven hybrid MEMS DM technology. The increased spatial resolution afforded by the development here will enable picometer resolution DMs required to reach 10^10 contrast levels necessary for direct detection of Earth-sized terrestrial planets.
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase I
2016
NASA
Fabrication Process and Electronics Development for Scaling Segmented MEMS DMs
Amount: $1,000,000 Topic: S2.01
Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology has the potential to create deformable mirrors (DM) with more than 10^4 actuators that have size, weight, and power specifications that are far lower than conventional piezoelectric and electrostrictive DMs. However, considerable development is necessary to take state-of-the-art MEMS DMs today and make them flight-like. This Phase II SBIR proposal addresses two critical areas in MEMS DM development towards the goal of developing flight-like hardware. Namely, Phase II research will further develop Iris AO's proven hybrid MEMS DM technology to: 1) develop and demonstrate wafer-scale assembly of deformable mirror arrays and 2) increase drive electronics resolution to >=18 bits using hardware-controlled super-resolution oversampling techniques. The increased spatial and actuator resolution afforded by the development here will enable picometer resolution DMs required to reach 10^10 contrast levels necessary for direct detection of Earth-sized terrestrial planets.
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase II
2014
NASA
Fabrication Process and Electronics Development for Scaling Segmented MEMS DMs
Amount: $125,000 Topic: S2.01
Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology has the potential to create deformable mirrors (DM) with more than 10^4 actuators that have size, weight, and power specifications that are far lower than conventional piezoelectric and electrostrictive DMs. However, considerable development is necessary to take state-of-the-art DMs today and make them flight-like. This Phase I SBIR proposal addresses two critical areas in MEMS DM development towards the goal of developing flight-like hardware. Namely, Phase I research will further develop Iris AO's proven hybrid MEMS DM technology to: 1) make a critical assembly step in the fabrication process scalable to wafer scales and 2) increase drive electronics resolution to 16 bits while simultaneously reducing power requirements more than three-fold over existing 14-bit resolution electronics. The increased spatial and actuator resolution afforded by the development here will enable picometer resolution DMs required to reach 10^10 contrast levels necessary for direct detection of Earth-sized terrestrial planets.
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase I
2013
NASA
SBIR Phase II: MEMS Deformable Mirrors for Laser Applications
Amount: $447,831 Topic: IC
What is the proposed innovation? This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will advance the state of the art in compact 360-degree camera systems, achieving sizes of about 1/8 of current systems, without compromising the quality or resolution of the optics. Convex mirror based optics has resulted in the realization of very high-resolution ultra-wide angle camera systems. A fundamental limitation in these systems has been the size of the optics in relation to the size of the imaging sensor. Mirror diameters in the range of 10 times the size of the sensor have been achieved. The objective of this research is to overcome the above limitation and achieve mirror diameters at the level of 3-5 times the size of the sensor, keeping ultra high resolution across the entire field of view. In this Phase II project, a miniature high-resolution 360-degree prototype system including optics and camera sensor will be built to demonstrate this capability. What are the broader/commercial impacts of the proposed innovation? The broader impact of this project will be will to increase the market reach of ultra-wide angle cameras for multiple applications, including video-conferencing, robotics and home surveillance. This new approach to designing optics will result in substantially reducing the form factor of high-resolution wide-angle optics. The high-resolution camera sensors available in the consumer market today can be better used in very small ultra-wide angle video cameras with the ability for multiple remote users to decide where they want to look independent of each other. This has the potential of transforming the market for pan-tilt-zoom cameras to "solid-state pan/tilt/zoom" cameras. The very low size, weight and power cameras that would result from this research can result in small wireless, battery powered systems that would increase the proliferation of cameras for a variety of different applications.
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase II
2012
NSF
Picometer-Resolution MEMS Segmented DM
Amount: $900,000 Topic: S2.02
Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology has the potential to create deformable mirrors (DM) with 10^4 actuators that have size, weight, and power specifications that are far lower than conventional piezoelectric and electrostrictive DMs. However, building a MEMS DM with a relatively large aperture that is flat in the unpowered state is challenging. Currently, a large portion of the mirror stroke must be used to flatten the MEMS DMs. In the case of the large-stroke segmented MEMS DMs manufactured by Iris AO, there is sufficient stroke for wavefront correction after flattening. However, the resolution is significantly reduced because the dynamic range of the digital-to-analog converters (DAC) used to operate the DM is spread over multiple microns of stroke rather than the 0.5 micron range required for a coronagraph. This Phase I SBIR will make substantial improvements in the fabrication process of MEMS segmented DMs that reduce the deleterious residual surface-figure errors. It will do so by systematically addressing the sources of the segment position variations as well as addressing low-spatial frequency chip bow that can result in large peak-to-valley deformations across the DM array. The Iris AO DM architecture will also be modified to enable picometer resolution actuation with ultra-precision drive electronics.
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase II
2012
NASA
Picometer-Resolution MEMS Segmented DM
Amount: $100,000 Topic: S2.02
Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology has the potential to create deformable mirrors (DM) with 10^4 actuators that have size, weight, and power specifications that are far lower than conventional piezoelectric and electrostrictive DMs. However, building a MEMS DM with a relatively large aperture that is flat in the unpowered state is challenging. Currently, a large portion of the mirror stroke must be used to flatten the MEMS DMs and in some cases, the DM stroke is not even sufficient to flatten the mirror. In the case of the large-stroke segmented MEMS DMs manufactured by Iris AO, there is sufficient stroke for wavefront correction after flattening. However, the resolution is significantly reduced because the dynamic range of the digital-to-analog converters (DAC) used to operate the DM is spread over multiple microns of stroke rather than the 0.5µm range required to correct for aberrations in the telescope that feeds the coronagraph. This Phase I SBIR will make substantial improvements in the fabrication process of MEMS segmented DMs that reduce the deleterious residual surface-figure errors. It will do so by systematically addressing the sources of the segment position variations as well as addressing low-spatial frequency chip bow that can result in large peak-to-valley deformations across the DM array. The Iris AO DM architecture will also be modified to enable picometer resolution actuation with ultra-precision drive electronics.
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase I
2011
NASA
SBIR Phase I:Dielectric Coating of MEMS Deformable Mirrors
Amount: $150,000 Topic: IC
This small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will demonstrate the ability to coat a microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) deformable mirror (DM) array with high-reflectance dielectric coatings. Micromachined DMs provide unprecedented control over an optical beam, however, they cannot sustain operation with lasers of more than a few hundred milliwatts because of the relatively low reflectance of the typical metallic optical coatings. The dielectric coated MEMS DMs developed with this research will be able to handle tens of Watts of laser power commensurate with many laser machining applications. Normally, a dielectric coating would render a MEMS based mirror useless because residual stresses in these thick coatings warp the mirror surface. Even simple single-wavelength coatings with 99.75% reflectance are relatively thick (3-5 times the wavelength of interest) compared to typical MEMS layer thicknesses. To achieve a high-quality mirror surface, this research will fabricate novel MEMS DMs with a stress-compensation layer that balances residual stresses from the dielectric coatings. The stress compensation layer enables the DMs to be coated with well-established and readily available coatings. Mirrors with these coatings will be tested at high laser fluence to determine failure points and validate thermal models of the DM. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is to enhance the capabilities of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) deformable mirrors (DM) to make them suitable for use in industrial applications. Deformable mirrors offer high-resolution control of an optical beam spatially and temporally. This ability has led to tremendous technical and scientific advances in astronomy, retinal imaging, and microscopy. The research here will expand the capabilities of low-cost MEMS DMs to provide exquisite wavefront control to applications where relatively high power (1-100 W) lasers are employed. For astronomers, the DM will be used to pre-compensate laser guide star beams for atmospheric turbulence to improve AO performance of 10-30m class telescopes. These increases in performance will enable astronomers to probe deeper into the universe. The same technology can be employed to enhance laser-machining equipment for the electronics and semiconductor industries. Applications for this equipment include via drilling for ceramic packages, through- silicon vias (TSV), laser machining of high-density flex circuits, integrated-circuit trimming of resistors, and cutting of links in DRAMs. For these applications, the DM can provide fast focus corrections and on-the-fly beam shaping to tailor the beam for the task at hand.
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase I
2010
NSF
Wide Field-of-View Imaging Sensor System for SSA
Amount: $100,000 Topic: AF083-195
Iris AO will extend previous development research in the area of piezoelectrically actuated membrane deformable mirrors (DM). These extensions are to achieve extreme degrees of curvature required in an optical zoom system based on DMs. These MEMS devices are very small, low weight, and consume very little power. The properties make the ideal for deployment in satellites for space situational awareness. Goals of the Phase I work are to (a) characterize existing prototype devices and extend the design for extreme curvatures and a larger (8mm) optical aperture, (b) fabricate prototype devices, and (c) characterize the fabricated prototypes and use results for design process improvement. This Phase I work is confined to the 8mm devices for compatibility with existing packaging and test equipment. Fabrication of devices with the ultimately required 20mm aperture will be addressed in Phase II research. BENEFIT: A deformable mirror capable of achieving very high curvature will be developed based on MEMS processing. This enables construction of an optical zoom characterized by very light weight and low power consumption. Beyond the base function as an optical zoom, the deformable mirror capable of adaptive optical correction of low order aberrations. Commercial applications include laser communications, laser processing of materials, and biological imaging.
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase I
2009
DOD
USAF
10^3 Segment MEMS Deformable-Mirror Process Development
Amount: $100,000 Topic: S2.02
Iris AO will extend its proven segmented MEMS deformable mirror architecture to large array sizes required for high-contrast astrophysical imagers. Current implementations consist of arrays of 37 mirror segments (currently available commercially) and 163 segment arrays (first prototypes under test). Existing thin-film based MEMS fabrication techniques used by competitors typically can not achieve an adequate degree of optical flatness and maintain it over a range of temperatures. Even newer thick-film methods suffer from the same problem to some degree. The Iris AO segmented mirror approach, on the other hand, uses a thick and rigid single-crystal-silicon optical surface bonded to an electrostatically driven actuator platform. This results in excellent mirror flatness and insensitivity to temperature even when specialized optical coatings are used. This proposal addresses scaling this technology up to 10^3 segments. Key technical issues to be addressed in accommodating the larger number of segments include: (a) controlling overall bow of the larger chip; (b) developing the electrical interconnect design and fabrication process, and (c) modifying the mirror-wafer bonding process. This Phase I will include one process run in order to test and refine the proposed solutions.
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase I
2009
NASA
Optimized Coding and Protocols for Free-Space Optical Communications Links
Amount: $69,999 Topic: N08-072
High-speed laser communications in adverse maritime conditions are necessary to transfer large amounts of data needed for command-and-control, target selection, or other intelligence. Atmospheric turbulence causes scintillation, variation of signal strength, and an increase in the bit-error rate (BER). Obscurations such as debris or fog cause scattering and a decrease in the signal and the information it contains. Conventional adaptive optics can be used to mitigate some of the turbulence effects, but data rates still need to remain high. In collaboration with our partner, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNCC), we have recently finished some theoretical developments and laboratory demonstrations that will provide a novel optimized coding for the optical communications beam. Our coding scheme is based upon modulating a beam with an optical vortex with different vortex “charge” applied to each pulse. The pulse is then detected and the optical charge is determined. We can vary the vortex charge and thereby code each pulse with various values to increase the final data rate. The vortices placed on the beam are known to maintain their charge as the beam propagates through atmospheric turbulence, around small particulates (dust), and even fog.
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase I
2008
DOD
NAVY