Multisensor chip for gas concentration monitoring in a flowing gas mixture

Abstract In this paper, the monitoring of gas concentration of a flowing gas with a semiconductor gas sensor is faced. In this kind of devices, the flow rate has a significant effect on the gas sensors’ output signal. One way to obtain reliable measurements is the simultaneous monitoring of flow rate and gas concentration. In this way, the integration of a flow sensor in a set of semiconductor gas sensors on a multisensor silicon chip is proposed. The design and the technological compatibilization required to address the approach are presented and the viability of this proposal is demonstrated by measuring two different gas atmospheres at several flow rates.

[1]  Carles Cané,et al.  Thermal and mechanical aspects for designing micromachined low-power gas sensors , 1997 .

[2]  Thomas Nirmaier,et al.  Sensitive NO2 detection with surface acoustic wave devices using a cyclic measuring technique , 2000 .

[3]  Carles Cane,et al.  Low-cost thermal flow sensor for home-appliances applications , 2002, Symposium on Design, Test, Integration, and Packaging of MEMS/MOEMS.

[4]  Ton J.J. van den Boom,et al.  A temperature-controlled smart surface-acoustic-wave gas sensor , 1998 .

[5]  Henry Baltes,et al.  A high sensitivity CMOS gas flow sensor on a thin dielectric membrane , 1993 .

[6]  Oliver Brand,et al.  CMOS chemical microsensors based on resonant cantilever beams , 1998, Smart Structures.

[7]  Jürgen Wöllenstein,et al.  Micromachined thin film SnO2 gas sensors in temperature-pulsed operation mode , 1999 .

[8]  N. Bârsan,et al.  Micromachined metal oxide gas sensors: opportunities to improve sensor performance , 2001 .

[9]  G Kaltsas,et al.  Novel C-MOS compatible monolithic silicon gas flow sensor with porous silicon thermal isolation , 1999 .

[10]  Oliver Brand,et al.  Thermally excited silicon oxide beam and bridge resonators in CMOS technology , 1993 .

[11]  Ludwig J. Gauckler,et al.  Miniaturised arrays of tin oxide gas sensors on single microhotplate substrates fabricated by micromolding in capillaries , 2003 .

[12]  Wolfgang Göpel,et al.  SnO2 sensors: current status and future prospects☆ , 1995 .

[13]  G. Wachutka,et al.  Fabrication and modelling of CMOS microbridge gas-flow sensors , 1992 .

[14]  Tsugihiko Takumi,et al.  A polysilicon flow sensor for gas flow meters , 1996 .

[15]  Carles Cané,et al.  Multi-range silicon micromachined flow sensor , 2004 .

[16]  Walter Lang,et al.  Thermal flow sensor for liquids and gases based on combinations of two principles , 1999 .

[17]  B. W. Oudheusden.  Silicon thermal flow sensors , 1992 .