914 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING. VOL. 38. NO. IO.
OCTOBER 1991
Development of Medical Pressure and Temperature
Sensors Employing Optical Spectrum Modulation
Roger A. Wolthuis, Senior Member, IEEE, Gordon L. Mitchell, Senior Member, IEEE, Elric Saaski,
James C. Hartl, and Martin A. Afromowitz, Member, lEEE
Abstract-Fiber optic Fabry-Perot sensors have been devel-
oped whose optical reflectance varies with optical cavity depth
(pressure) or with change in a material’s refractive index (tem-
perature). These sensors employ a unique combination of fea-
tures: they are interrogated by an LED; they are designed to
operate within a single reflectance cycle; and their returned
light is analyzed by a dichroic ratio technique. The sensors use
a step index glass fiber and are relatively insensitive to absolute
light levels and fiber bending. They have an expanded linear
operating range and can be built for low cost disposable appli-
cations. Sensor performance meets or exceeds established med-
ical requirements.
INTRODUCTION
B IOMEDICAL RESEARCHERS and clinicians have
long sought the development of small, inexpensive
sensors for measuring pressure and temperature. These
sensors would provide for direct, accurate measurements
of pressure and temperature at discrete intravascular sites,
yet minimize sensor presence effects on the measurement
itself. Furthermore, these sensors would also fit the mod-
ern emphasis on use of low cost, disposable devices.
Piezoresistive pressure sensors became available for
biomedical applications in the late 1950’s, and their pri-
mary use was and remains intravascular pressure mea-
surements. Millar Instruments (Houston, TX) miniatur-
ized these sensors and placed them in catheters to allow
for direct, accurate, intravascular measurements. The re-
sulting product was quite fragile and very expensive, pre-
venting use in all but a few restricted applications. Cur-
rently, most intravascular pressure measurements are
made indirectly using a fluid-filled catheter and a larger,
externally-located pressure sensor. Hence, the desired
combination of small size, robustness and low cost has
not been achieved with piezoresistive devices.
Fiber optic pressure sensors for biomedical applications
have been under development since the mid-1960’s. Early
workers focused on intensity modulation designs, but their
sensors were quite large, difficult to manufacture, and
costly [ 11-[4]. Furthermore, these sensors used multiple
Manuscript received May 14. 1990; revised December 18, 1990.
R. A . Wolthuis, G . L. Mitchell, E. Saaski, and J . C. Hart1 are with
MetriCor Inc.. Woodinville, WA 98072.
M . A. Afromowitz is with the Department of Electrical Engineering,
University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195.
IEEE Log Number 9102477.
0018-9294/91/1000-0974$01.OO
fibers or fiber bundles as light guides, dictating the use of
relatively large (7-8 French) catheter housings.
Later workers promoted new diaphragm materials, new
side-looking designs or new signal analysis techniques
[5]-[SI. Even so, commercialization by one company
(Camino Labs, San Diego, CA) has been less than suc-
cessful, and many of the original problems with intensity
modulation based designs remain.
A new fiber optic pressure sensor design emerged in the
late 1970’s and early 1980’s based on the Fabry-Perot
interferometer [9], [ 101. In this design, one of two par-
allel, optical reflecting surfaces is a pressure sensitive dia-
phragm; as this diaphragm moves in response to pressure,
the Fabry-Perot reflectance peaks change accordingly.
While this design resolved some of the intensity modu-
lation sensor limitations, other limitations remained and
it still required complex signal analysis instrumentation.
Turning to biomedical temperature measurements,
small and inexpensive thermocouple and thermistor de-
vices have been available for many years. Since these de-
vices are electrically activated and employ conducting
materials, they are not appropriate for making measure-
ments in a number of medical applications, e.g., in high
RF fields associated with hyperthermia treatment. Fur-
thermore, available optical temperature sensors based on
the use of rare earth phosphors [ 111 or on gallium arsenide
[ 121 are relatively bulky and/or expensive.
A program was initiated for development of a new gen-
eration of medical pressure and temperature sensors based
on the Fabry-Perot interferometer. Specific program goals
included:
small sensor size, ideally less than 0.1 mm3,
a single loo/ 140 pm optical fiber per sensor,
ease of sensor fabrication/manufacture,
low sensor cost,
sensor performance equal to or better than existing
American Association for Medical Instrumentation
(AAMI) specifications.
The development, fabrication, and evaluation of these
sensors are described in this paper.
SENSORDEVELOPMENT
The development program began with a thorough re-
view of known optical approaches for pressure sensing.
Emphasis was given to identifying an optical approach
0 1991 IEEE
WOLTHIIIS cr <I/.: DEVELOPMENT OF MEDICAL PRESSURE A N D T E M P E R A T U R E SENSORS
that
a) was relatively independent of absolute light levels,
i.e., not intensity modulated,
b) could operate using a single optical fiber, and
c) had performance equal to or greater than AAMI
specifications.
The Fabry-Perot interferometer [9] seemed to meet these
requirements, and subsequent development work focused
on expanding this optical approach in novel ways.
Pressure Sensor
In a Fabry-Perot interferometer, two parallel, partially
reflecting surfaces are spaced less than a coherence length
apart, thereby forming an optical reflecting cavity. If one
of the partial reflecting surfaces is a pressure-sensitive
diaphragm, changes in external pressure will alter optical
cavity depth (Fig. 1). A change in optical cavity depth
will cause a change in optical cavity reflectance. For a
given wavelength, cavity depth and cavity reflectance are
related by an oscillating curve having multiple maxima
and minima (Fig. 2).
The literture describes a number of methods for making
Fabry-Perot pressure sensors, and these are summarized
in Table I. While each these methods have been imple-
mented in laboratory settings, each has one or more lim-
itations that have stood in the way of active commercial-
ization. For example, there is no absolute pressure
reference inherent in the Incremental method design; an
outside reference must be used each time the system is
turned on. Intensity methods generally have a limited dy-
namic range and are sensitive to light level changes in-
duced by optical fibers and/or connectors. White light
methods suffer from limited source lifetimes and neces-
sary readout complexity. Finally, the LED-deep cavity
method is difficult to manufacture in quantity-reproduc-
ing exact cavity depth (30-100 pm) over thousands of
sensors is a major stumbling block.
In the present program, a new Fabry-Perot method was
developed and named the LED-Microshift method [ 191.
This new method is characterized by three distinct fea-
tures. First, as the name suggests, this method uses an
LED for interrogating the optical reflecting cavity. Since
the LED has an emission bandwidth of about 60 nm, the
reflectance of each emission wavelength varies uniquely
with optical cavity depth. This is illustrated in Fig. 3
which shows the relationship between cavity depth and
reflectance for just three LED emission wavelengths. In
effect, the spectral character of LED light reflected by the
sensor changes with cavity depth.
The second feature of the LED-Microshift method has
to do with its operating domain. The word "microshift"
calls attention to the fact that this method operates over
changes in optical cavity depth that occur between two
reflectance peaks, e.g., on the reflectance changes occur-
ring between a maximum and a minimum within a single
reflectance cycle. This is illustrated in Fig. 4 where the
915
Pressure Sensitive
Fig. I . A Fabry-Perot interferometer pressure sensor is illustrated. The
dashed lines show light arriving at and reflecting from the two partially
reflecting surfaces. Pressure diaphragm thickness and optical cavity depth
are not drawn to scale.
"1
0 1 2 3
Cavity Dbpth. mluona
Fig. 2. In a Fabry-Perot interferometer, cavity depth and cavity reflec-
tance (at 850 nm) are related by a repeating curve having multiple maxima
and minima. Vertical dashed lines define the area expanded in Fig. 3 .
reflectance of all LED wavelengths was summed and plot-
ted as a function of optical cavity depth (i.e., the photo-
current generated by the reflected light of an LED-Micro-
shift pressure sensor is plotted versus absolute pressure).
As the data indicate, it is possible to operate between the
maxima and minima, but the sensor is linear over a very
short pressure range.
The third feature of the LED-Microshift method is its
use of a dichroic ratio technique for returned light signal
analysis. In this dichroic ratio technique,light returned
from the sensor is split into short and long wavelength
components by a dichroic mirror; the corresponding de-
tected photocurrents can be used to form a ratiometric sig-
nal (Fig. 5 ) . One benefit of this technique is that the di-
chroic ratio is relatively immune to changes in LED output
intensity or to the efficiency of light-handling components
within the optical system; changes in light level affect both
components of the ratio signal, leaving its absolute value
essentially unchanged. Another more important benefit of
this technique is its ability to increase the linear operating
region of the pressure sensor by a factor of 3 to 4. Recall
that the light returned by the LED-Microshift pressure
sensor (i.e., measured photocurrent) varies with absolute
pressure (Fig. 4). If, however, returned light is split into
short and long wavelength components, the ratio of long
wavelength intensity to total intensity (short plus long
wavelength) yields an altered pressure response curve with
a significantly extended linear range (Fig. 6). This ex-
tended linear range allows use of the sensor without user
correction across a wide range of ambient barometric
pressure settings.
976 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING, VOL. 38, NO. IO. OCTOBER 1991

TABLE 1
SUMMAR
OFYPUBLISHED
FABRY-PEROT
PRESSURE
SENSORS

Light Source ReHectance System

Method Source Width Max to Max Readout Reference

Incremental Laser < I nm > 10 nm Fringe count 13

Intensity Laser < I nm > 100 nm Intensity 14, 15
White Light Lamp > 100 nm - 10 nm Spectrometer 16
LED-Deep Cavity LED -60 nm < I O nm Spectrometer 17, I8

600 7 &- 0.9

1.8 1.9 2.0 2.1

200! , , I I , , ~! 0.4
0 500 1000 1500 2000
Cavity Depth, mlcronr
Absolute Pressure, mmHg
Fig. 3 . The relationship between interferometer cavity depth and cavity
reflectance is shown for LED emission wavelengths at 820. 850, and 880 Fig. 6 . Total sensor reHectance (measured photocurrent) and the output
nm. Note that reHectance is wavelength dependent at each cavity depth. from dichroic ratio signal analysis (dichroic ratio) are plotted with respect
to optical cavity depth (absolute pressure), as measured over part of a re-
Hectance cycle with a MetriCor Model 1400 instrument.

The output intensity, I, of the LED can be modeled as

I = 1,[1 + cos { T ( X - x,)/2w,}l/2, xc
2WL < < Xc 2WL
- x +
where X = wavelength, wL = LED spectral width, Xc =
LED center wavelength, I , = center wavelength inten-
200 I
sity. This modeled LED spectral shape matches measured
0 500 1000 1500 2000 spectra closely enough to permit an understanding of sen-
Absolute Pressure, mmHg sor performance.
Fig. 4. The relationship between total sensor reHectance (measured pho- Sensor reflectance is of the form (20)
tocurrent) and optical cavity depth (absolute pressure) is shown for an LED-
microshift pressure sensor, as measured over part of a reHectance cycle
with a MetriCor Model 1400 instrument. - cos 6

L
-F +
L
1 -cos6

- -1 +-1 - K cos 6
Fused Fiber
Optic Coupler To
K K2
I
Sensor
Optical
where we have taken the first two terms in an expansion,
considering cos 6 to be small, and where F = 4 R ‘ / ( 1 -
R‘)’, R‘ = ( r l r 2 ) ’ ” , r l . r2 are surface intensity reflec-
I tances, 6 = 47rd/X, d = surface spacing, and K = 1 +
Receiving 2/F.
Photodiodes We are interested in R in the neighborhood of a reflec-
tion peak, say the one that occurs at Xcf. At this wave-
Fig. 5 . Optical system design showing implementation o f the dichroic ra- length, &, = 2a(m + 1/2), where m is a particular in-
tio signal analysis technique. teger. For wavelengths h near this peak, that is 1 h - Act 1
<< Xcf it is readily shown that
COS 6 1 -COS A
The dichroic ratio signal analysis technique provides an
extended linear operating range because the LED spec- where A = ?r(X - Xcf)/2w, and w, = Xc,/4(m + 1/2).
trum is nearly symmetrical and closely matches the spec- Therefore,
tral reflectance peak-width of the sensor. This can be il- 1 1-K
R Z - - - cos A .
lustrated as follows: K K’
WOLTHUIS (’I U / . : DEVELOPMENT OF MEDICAL PRESSURE A N D TEMPERATURE SENSORS
Hence, the ratio of intensity of long-wave to long- plus
short-wave reflected light takes the form
Xr + 2 u /
[ IRdX
The result of this calculation is
1
Ratio = -
2
+ -2
T
1
2K
(1
-
-
(1
K ) sin A’
- K ) COS A’
where A’ = n(Xc - Xc,)/2w and where we have let w =
W L = w,,.
This expression for the ratio appears to be quite linear
for la’ I cc 7r/2, and applies to LED’s which have mod-
erately symmetrical spectra illuminating Fabry-Perot sen-
sors in which the reflectance peak width of the Fabry-
Perot is comparable to the LED emission peak width.
In practice, the LED-Microshift sensor has character-
istics that deviate from the theoretical model given above.
For example, LED emission characteristics may vary from
unit to unit; minor differences in LED peak wavelength
are tuned by controlling LED operating temperature, and
spectral width variations are accommodated by gain ad-
justments. Furthermore, the diaphragm is not strictly
planar, therefore the width of the Fabry-Perot resonance
is increased from theoretical values. However, we use
only the center 25 % of the diaphragm area, and therefore
the nonplanar effects are minimized.
The LED-Microshift sensor shares the same design
flexibility found in all diaphragm-based sensors, e.g., a
wide range of measurement applications can be accom-
modated by simple changes in one or more critical design
variables: Fabry-Perot cavity spacing, d ; cavity radius,
a ; and/or pressure diaphragm thickness, r. Thus, the pres-
sure, P , which will cause a diaphragm center deflection
of X/4 is given by
P = 6 4 ( D / a 4 )X / 4
where D is diaphragm stiffness defined by
D = &/12(1 - d)
and E is Young’s modulus for the diaphragm, r is dia-
phragm thickness, and U is Poisson’s ratio for the dia-
phragm. Importantly, this design flexibility is only an as-
set if the underlying variables can be controlled precisely
in a manufacturing environment and within a production
run. For the LED-Microshift sensor, photolighographic
micromatchining techniques provide for < 1 % sensor-to-
sensor variance within a production run, and the resulting
product yields are more than adequate for assuring low
cost sensors.
Temperature Sensor
During pressure sensor development, it was suggested
that the silicon diaphragm itself could act as an optical
reflecting cavity [21]. This observation did not affect the
911
Partially Reflecting
surfaces
Silicon
Optical Fiber
Fig. 7 . An LED-Microshift temperature sensor is shown. Some structures
are nor drawn to scale.
1 pressure sensor’s ability to measure pressure because a)
the two-optical cavities have significantly different optical
depths (1.43 pm with index 1.0 versus 4.03 pm with in-
dex 3.6), and b) only the etched optical cavity changes
depth with change in pressure while the silicon “cavity”
does not.
Subsequently, the design of an LED-Microshift tem-
perature sensor based on silicon was pursued; the same
three features used with the pressure sensor (i.e., use of
an LED source, operating within a single reflectance
cycle, and use of the dichroic ratio signal analysis tech-
nique) were applied to the temperature sensor as well.
Functionally, the outside surfaces of a thin layer of silicon
defines an optical reflecting cavity (Fig. 7). As tempera-
ture changes, the refractive index of silicon changes; this
index change is substantial when observed with light near
the band gap of silicon. For example, with an 850 nm
LED source, the relative refractive index change with
temperature is several times larger than other changes oc-
curring within the silicon, including the expansion of sil-
icon itself. As the refractive index of silicon changes, the
spectral reflectance of each LED wavelength also changes
(see Fig. 3). These reflectance changes occur within a
sensor reflectance cycle and are of the same order of mag-
nitude as seen for the pressure sensor.
Two competing effects must be considered in selecting
the correct sensor silicon thickness: low sensitivity results
when the silicon is too thin, while high signal loss and
restricted temperature range result when the silicon is too
thick. In our experience, single crystal silicon having a
thickness of 0.8 pm provides a more than adequate linear
range for medical temperture measurements.
It is important to note that, because the pressure and
temperature sensor reflectance spectra are similar, both
sensors can use the same dichroic ratio signal analysis in-
strumentation (see Fig. 5 ) . This instrument commonality
has significant user and commercial implications; most fi-
ber optic sensors to date have required separate, custom
instrumentation for each sensed parameter.
SENSORFABRICATION
As noted in the introduction, three of the five sensor
development program goals were related to sensor fabri-
cation: small sensor size, ease of sensor fabrication and
low sensor cost. To achieve these goals, sensor design
was weighted toward incorporating semiconductor pro-
cess and micromachining techniques wherever possible.
978
Optical Canty
with Ti02
Reflector
Gener Ring
Pressure Sensitive
Silimn Diaphragm
f
Glass Optical
Fiber
Fig. 8 . The detail of an LED-Microshift pressure sensor is shown. Some
structures are not drawn to scale.
Pressure Sensor
The completed LED-Microshift pressure sensor is a
small cube of glass with approximate dimensions of 300
x 300 x 275 pm. One face of this glass cube contains a
shallow cavity (1.4-1.7 pm deep x 200 pm diameter)
which is covered by a thin, pressure sensitive silicon dia-
phragm (Fig. 8). (While the sensor illustrated and de-
scribed in this report is designed for absolute pressure
measurements, the same optical approch can and has been
used for the design of differential pressure sensors.)
Sensor fabrication centers around the masking and pro-
cessing of a 275 pm X 75 mm O.D. polished substrate
made from Corning 7740 (Pyrex) glass. Following the ap-
plication of photoresist to this glass substrate, the first
masking step transfers an outline of sensor optical cavities
(200 pm diameter circles) to the substrate. These cavities
are then etched with HF to the desired depth; target depth
is determined by the reflectance cycle one chooses to op-
erate in, and is typically in the range 1.4-1.7 pm. Next,
a quarter-wave thick film of titanium dioxide is deposited
on the bottom of the etched cavities using conventional
vacuum deposition techniques. This film increases reflec-
tance of the 7740/Ti02 /air surface to approximately that
of the air/Si02 /Si surface on the opposite (diaphragm)
side of the optical cavity. The photoresist is removed and
the glass wafer is cleaned.
Following the application of new photoresist, the next
masking step defines a donut-shaped iron getter ring near
the outer circumference within each previously etched
cavity. This getter ring will later scavenge gases from the
sealed optical cavity, thereby providing an absolute pres-
sure sensor having a low temperature coefficient. The
photoresist is then removed.
The next fabrication step involves covering the pre-
pared cavities with a silicon wafer. The silicon wafer is
preprocessed by diffusing an etch stop (boron) into the
silicon to a depth consistent with the desired diaphragm
thickness, nominally - 4 pm. The doped silicon surface
is anodically bonded in vacuum to the cavity-containing
glass wafer. Anodic bonding is accomplished using the
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING. VOL. 3R. NO. IO. OCTOBER 1991
pressure
Sensor
I t
I I -- Fiber-Capillary
Pedestal
I I
I I
Fig. 9. Detail of the fiber tip assembly used for mounting an LED-Micro-
shift pressure sensor is shown.
“Mallory” bonding technique [22]; the resulting bond is
permanent and hermetic. The undoped silicon is then
etched away with ethylene diamine pyrocatechol; etching
slows dramatically when the etchant reaches the layer of
doped silicon, leaving the cavities covered with a thin sil-
icon diaphragm. Finally, the completed wafer assembly
is diced into individual pressure sensors using a diamond-
bladed dicing saw. The sensors are now ready for mount-
ing on the tip of optical fibers.
The mounting of an LED-Microshift pressure sensor on
the tip of an optical fiber is detailed in Fig. 9. Because
the sensor is larger than the optical fiber cross section, the
fiber cross section is first enlarged by attaching a short
piece of 500 pm O.D. glass capillary tubing to the fiber
end. The capillary tubing-fiber assembly is then polished
in preparation for sensor mounting. The completed as-
sembly fits easily in a 1 mm O.D. ( 3 French) catheter
housing.
Temperature Sensor
The completed optical temperature sensor has approx-
imate dimensions of 125 x 125 X 400 pm. As illustrated
in Fig. 7 , the active sensor element is a thin layer of sil-
icon sandwiched between two pieces of glass.
Sensor fabrication begins with anodic bonding of a 75
mm diam X 200 pm thick polished glass wafer (Corning
7740) to a 75 mm diameter silicon wafer; the silicon wafer
has been pre-processed by diffusing boron into its surface
to a depth of 0 . 8 pm. Once again, anodic bonding [22] is
used to join the parts. The undoped silicon is then etched
away with ethylene diamine pyrocatechol, leaving a thin
layer of doped silicon (approximately 0.8 pm) attached to
the glass substrate. A second polished glass wafer is then
anodically bonded to the etched silicon surface, forming
a sandwich as shown in Fig. 7. The completed sandwich-
 __

WOLTHUIS et U/.: DEVELOPMENT OF MEDICAL PRESSURE A N D TEMPERATURE SENSORS 979

wafer is diced into individual sensors with a diamond-

bladed dicing saw, and the sensors are mounted directly
onto the ends of 100/140 pm multimode glass fibers.
Each fiber-sensor assembly fits easily into a 2 French
catheter housing.

SENSOREVALUATION A N D CALIBRATION

Pressure Sensor Evaluation _.I. ,

600 700 800 900 1000 1100
Response of the LED-Microshift pressure sensor is Absolute Pressure, mmHg
shown in Fig. 10; the response to pressure is plotted as a Fig. IO. The response of an LED-Microshift pressure sensor is shown.
function of dichroic ratio, the signal analysis technique
used here and decribed earlier. The tradeoff between lin-
ear operating range and sensitivity is quite straightfor-
ward: increased linear range is achieved by operating over
a shorter portion of the reflectance cycle, e.g., by increas-
ing diaphragm thickness, while greater sensitivity is
achieved by operating over a longer portion of the reflec-
tance cycle, e.g., by decreasing diaphragm thickness. A
typical compromise provides 2 % of reading linearity and
0.06% rafio change/mmHg sensitivity; this sensitivity in 0.54 I I I I i
turn provides resolution (1 mmHg) and accuracy ( k l 600 700 800 900 1000 1100
mmHg) consistent with the needs of most medical appli- Absolute Pressure, mmHg
cations. Fig. 1 1 . The response of an LED-Microshift pressure sensor to four re-
Fig. 1 1 illustrates a lack of hysteresis in the LED-Mi- peated calibration runs is shown.
croshift sensor design. This absence of hysteresis is due
to the use of a) single crystal silicon in the pressure sen-
ICY I

sitive diaphragm and b) anodic bonding of silicon to the

glass substrate. Sensor designs which use organic dia-
phragm and/or adhesive materials are likely to have sub-
stantial hysteresis.
The frequency response of the LED-Microshift sensor
is flat up to 1000 Hz as measured with a piston-excited
I
pressure cell. In theory, frequency response should be flat .00 .25 .50 .75 1.00 i.25

from dc to 500 kHz because the diaphragm resonance is

greater than 1 MHz.
Finally, Fig. 12 is a composite showing recorded pres-
sure waveforms obtained with a Millar Micro-tip catheter
and an LED-Microshift sensor. As expected, the two sen-
sors provide identical waveforms, indicating the inter-
I
changeability of sensor technologies with respect to these .00 25 50 75 I bo 5 25

medical measurements. Tlme Isecl

One aspect of the LED-Microshit pressure sensor de-
sign deserves further comment, namely, its ability to sup-
port both absolute and differential pressure sensor config-
urations. In the absolute pressure sensor configuration,
sensitivity and resolution are reduced to provide for an
extended linear operting range (nominally 1000 mmHg);
this allows use of the sensor at widely varying barometric
pressures. Even so, the sensitivity and resolution are more
than adequate for accurate measurements of left heart and
systemic arterial pressures. In the differential pressure
sensor configuration (not illustrated), the operating span
can be reduced because changes in barometric pressure
are automatically accommodated; hence, this configura-
tion provides the sensitivity and resolution needed for,
say, right heart or intracranial pressure measurements.
The cost for this enhanced performance is a slightly larger
Fig. 12. The response of an LED-Microshift pressure sensor (upper trac-
ing) is compared with that from a Millar Micro-tip catheter (lower tracing)
for measurements taken in the canine left ventricle.
sensor profile, and provision for optical cavity venting to
the atmosphere.
Temperature Sensor Evaluation
The LED-Microshift temperature sensor response to
temperature is shown in Fig. 13; as before, sensor re-
sponse is plotted as a function of dichroic ratio. Over the
restricted range needed for medical applications, 1 % of
span linearity and 0.1 % ratio change/ "C sensitivity are
readily achieved and provide a measurement resolution of
0.2"C (0.02"C with sample averging). While sensor res-
980 IEEE TRANSACZTIONS ON BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING. VOL. 38, NO. IO, OCTOBER 1991

With regard to the pressure sensor, recall that the an-

1 9 odic bonding is accomplished in vacuum, which, together
with the getter ring assure that there is little or no gas
inside the cavity. Thus, temperature changes do not cause
substantial calibration shifts due to cavity pressure
changes. Minor expansion of the Pyrex cavity material
results in a temperature coefficient of pressure of approx-
\3 imately 200 ppm of full scale/”C.
0.64 , I I I I I I I

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Temperature, “C CONCLUSIONS
Fig. 13. The response of an LED-Microshift temperature sensor is shown From the start, the goals of this sensor development
for the range IO-60°C. program were very broad, ranging from creative sensor
design to robust sensor performance to incorporation into
commercially available medical products. The design
loor /---- concepts are truly unique and have been protected through
a series of U . S . and foreign patent applications; four of
0 t i these U.S. applications have already yielded patent
awards. Sensor performance goals have been largely met
or exceeded as illustrated by the data presented in this
paper. Finally, recent market introduction of the first of
several Baxter Edwards catheter products incorporating
the LED-Microshift sensor described above signals for-
mal incorporation of this sensor technology into commer-
I I I
0 100 200 300 400 500
cially available medical products. The time from begining
Time, msec of sensor design to product market introduction-seven
Fig. 14. The response time of an LED-Microshift temperature sensor is years.
shown, the sensor was moved quickly from ice water to boiling water for
this illustration.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors are indebted to Baxter Edwards Critical
olution is inadequate for thermal dilution curve measure- Care Laboratories for their generous support of this pro-
ments, total sensor span is nearly an order of magnitude gram. The authors express appreciation to D. Lawrence,
larger than that needed for medical applications. Metricor, for contributing expertise in semiconductor
Finally, sensor response to a step change in tempera- process and micromachining techniques; to D. Koop, J.
ture is shown in Fig. 14; data were obtained by moving a Barger, and G . Canny for laboratory support; and to Dr.
temperature sensor from ice water to boiling water. As K. Campberl and staff, Washington State University Car-
indicated, the sensor reaches 90% of its final value in ap- diovascular Research Laboratory, for taking and provid-
proximately 20 ms. The response time for this sensor will ing the in vivo data used in Figure 12.
vary with the application, and is generally rapid because
of the small sensor size. REFERENCES
[ I ] F. Clark, E. Schmidt, and R. DeLaCroix, “Fiber optic blood pres-
Calibration sure catheter with frequency response from dc into the audio range.”
Proc. Nut. Elec. C o n t . 1965, pp. 213-216.
Recall that the pressure and temperature sensors (Figs. [2] M. Polanyi. “Medical applications of fiberoptics,” Cunj Med. Elect.
B i d . E n g . , Tokyo. 1965. pp. 598-599.
1 and 7) consist of Pyrex glass and silicon, bound together (31 A. Ramirez, W. Hood, R . Wagner, and W . Abelmann, “A fiberoptic
anodically. The Pyrex and silicon have essentially the catheter for the measurement of intravascular pressures and sounds.”
same thermal expansion coefficient. Furthermore, no ad- Circulation, vols. 37, 38, supp. 6 p. 160. 1968.
141 S. Morikawa. Fiberoptic catheter-tip pressure transducer,” Jap. J.
hesives or polymers are used in these optically-sensitive “

Med. Electron.. vol. IO. pp. 36-39, 1972.

elements which could creep with time, or expand through
absorption of moisture. Long-term stability and shelf-life
are inherent in this design.
Sensor-to-sensor variations can be minimized through
state-of-the-art fabrication techniques, yielding sensors
with essentially the same performance characteristics.
This means that individual sensor calibration is not re-
quired. Long-term measurement stability is determined
more by instrumentation performance than sensor consid-
erations.
151 R. Pahler and A. Roberts, “Design of a fiber optic pressure trans-
ducer.” Trans. ASME, pp. 274-280. Feb. 1977.
161 H. Matsumoto and M. Saegusa, “The development of a fiber optic
catheter tip pressure transducer.” Jup. J . Med. Eng. Techno/. , vol.
2, pp. 239-242. 1978.
[7J W. Spillman, “Multimode fiber-optic pressure sensor based on the
photoelastic effect.” Opt. L e t t . , vol. 7. pp. 388-390, Aug. 1982.
[8] I . Giles, D. Uttam. S . McNeil. and B . Culshaw, “Self compensating
technique for remote fiber optic intensity modulated transducers.”
SPIE, vol. 522, pp. 233-239. 1985.
191 E. Cox and B . Jones, “Fiber optic color sensors based on Fabry-
Perot interferometry,” presented at First Int. Conf. Opt. Fiber Sen-
sors, London, 1983. pp. 122-126.
WOLTHUIS (,/ (I/ DEVELOPMENT OF MEDICAL PRESSURE AND TEMPERATURE SENSOKS
1101 K . Belsley. D. Huber. and J. Goodman, "All-passive fiber-optic
pressure sensor." l i i Tedi.. vol. 33, pp. 39-42, Dec. 1986.
1111 K. Wickersheini, "Optical fibers in medicine 11.'' SPIE. vol. 713.
pp, 150-157. Sept. 1988.
1121 D. Christensen, "A fiberoptic temperature sensor using wavelength-
dependent detection," SPIE. vol. 838, pp. 252-256. 1987.
[ 131 T. Yoshino. K. Kurosawa. K . Itoh. and T. Ose, "Fiber-optic Fabry-
Perot interferometer and its sensor applications.'' lEEE Trcim. Mi-
wr\tuiv Tliror? Tech., vol. MTT-30. pp. 1612-1621. Oct. 1982.
[ 141 A . Kersey, D. Jackson. and M. Corke. "A simple tiber Fabry-Perot
sensor," Opr. Comiiiuii.. vol. 45. pp. 71-74, 1983.
[ I S ) C . Lee and H. Taylor. "Interferometric optical tiber sensors using
internal mirrors," Elrcfroii. Lrrr.. vol. 24. pp. 193-194. Feb. 1988.
1161 W. Quick. K . James, and J . Coker, "Fiber optics sensing tech-
niques." presented at First I n t . Conf. Fiber Opt. Sensors, London.
1983.
I 17) G . Beheim. K . Fritsch. and R . Poorinan. "Fiber-linked interf'ero-
metric pressure sensor.'' Rri.. Sc,i. / m / r m i . . vol. 5 8 , pp. 1655- 1669,
Sept. 1987.
[ 181 E. Cox and B . Jones." Fiber optic color sensors based on Fabry-
Perot interferometly." presented at First Int. Opt. Fiber Sensor Symp.
London, Apr. 1983.
I191 G . Mitchell. E. Saaski, J . Hanl, R. Wolthuis. and M . Afroniowitz.
"A family of tiber optic sensors using cavity resonator inicroshifts."
presented at Fourth Int. Conf. Optical Fiber Sensors. Tokyo. Oct.
1986.
1201 M. Born and E. Wolf. Pritic.ip/c.\ of 0pric.s. Oxford: Perganion
Press, 1975.
12 I ] D. Christensen. "Tcniperature nieasurenient using optical ctalons."
presented at Opt. Soc. Anier. Ann. Meet.. Houston. TX. Oct. 15-
18, 1974.
1-72] G . Wallis. "Direct-current polarization during field-
metal sealing."J. Airier. Ccr. Soc... vol. 53. pp. 563-567. Oct. 1970.
Roger A. Wolthuis (M'73-SM'8 I ) completcd
undergraduate studies at [he Univer\ity of Michi
gan. Ann Arbor. and received the M S and Ph D
degree\ i n cardio\a\cular phy\iology troni Mich
igan State University. Ea\t Lan\ing. i n 1965 and
1968. respectively.
His professional interests have been a blend o f
applied cardiovascular research and medical prod-
uct development. He has held both technical and
management positions at the NASA Manned
Spacecraft Center Cardiovascular Research Lab-
oratory, Houston, TX (1968-1974). the Department o f Medicine. U S A F
School of Aerospace Medicine. San Antonio, TX (1974-1079). Meironic
Inc.. Minneapolis. MN (1979-1981). Squibb Medical Systems Division.
Bellevue. WA (198 I - 1982). and MetriCor Inc.. Woodinvillc. WA (1983-
1990). He recently founded and is currently president of MetriLab Inc..
Woodinville.WA.
Y8 I
Gordon L. Mitchell (S'63-M'74-SM'77) re-
ceived the B.S. degree in 1964 and the Ph.D. de-
gree in 1974 from the University of Washington
Department of Electrical Engineering. University
of Washington, Seattle.
He has worked for MetriCor since 1983 and is
presently the Manager. Advanced Prqjects. He
was with the Honeywell Systems and Reserch
Center in Minneapolis for six years where he
started a tiber optic sensor group. He has also held
a research faculty position at the University of
Washington, assisted the startup of several companies, and Rew for the US
Navy. When not engaged i n the business o f tiber optic sensors he is active
as a volunteer in OSA and IEEE activities.
Elric Saaski, photograph and biography not available at the time of pub-
I ication.
James C. Hart1 received the B.S. degree in 1976 and the M.S. degree in
1979 from the Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Wash-
ington, Seattle.
He has worked for MetriCor since 1981 and is presently Vice President
of Research and Development. Previously he has worked in development
positions with Sigma Research and Battelle Pacific Northwest Labortories
both of Richland Washington.
Martin A . Afromowitz (S'63-M'69-M'81) re-
ceived the B . S . . M.S.. and Ph.D. degrees in elec-
trical engineering from Columbia University. NY.
in 1965. 1966, and 1969. respectively.
Hc is currently Professor of Electrical Engi-
neering and Ad,junct Protcssor of Bioengineering
at the University of Washington, Seattle, WA. His
research interests include bioinstrumentation, fi-
ber optic sensors. and microfdbrication.