Dear Prospective Employer,
The problem as posed can be solved in several ways. The three most likely are as follows:
1. Microcontroller Based: Propsal ATTiny10
2. Op-Amp only design
3. Op-Amp and timer design
The Micro-controller design would have my preference, it allows for the smallest circuit. The only things required are two caps, a resistor, a diode and the micro-controller. The smallest of the Atmel Family, ATTiny10 has an 8bit ADC and no amplification, which means at 3V3, it can trigger at about 91mV (7 out of 255), or 104mV (8 out of 255).
It will, however, only require a PCB < 10x10mm, or if extra room is needed for connectors and/or manual soldering, 10x18mm.
The total cost of the parts would be about $1, but the Tiny10 would have to be pre-programmed.
I stock a number of Atmel micro-controllers and tools to program them, apart from that I am able to manually create a prototype on PCB material, allowing me to do an experiment within a couple of days and discuss whether an upgrade to ATTiny13 would be required (10bit ADC and a 1.1V reference to allow higher precision thresholds). The Tiny13 would mean a larger PCB, but also mean it could be programmed in-situ.
Option 2 and 3 can be discussed if micro-controllers are not an option.
Delivery of prototype SCH/PCB: 2 days from t0
Delivery of prototype test results: 5 days from t0
Delivery of final modifications to SCH/PCB: 8 days from t0
Optional Final test: 10 days from t0.
Bid including 1pc proposed prototype