An integrated interferometric temperature sensor, realized on a silico
n substrate, is presented. The device consists of an array of planar F
abry-Perot waveguiding cavities realized by plasma etching and standar
d microelectronic techniques. Experimental data demonstrating the moni
toring of temperature variation both in modulus and sign, with a resol
ution of approximately 1 degrees C, are reported. The influence of the
cavity losses and size on the sensor performance is discussed. The re
alization of amorphous silicon-based guided-wave sensors is then sugge
sted to obtain better temperature resolution.