PDMS-Coated Piezoresistive NEMS Diaphragm for Chloroform Vapor Detection

Author

Guo, Huihui ; Lou, Liang ; Chen, Xiangdong ; Lee, Chengkuo

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Nat. Univ. of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

Volume

33

Issue

7

fYear

2012

fDate

7/1/2012 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1078

Lastpage

1080

Abstract

A polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-coated nanoelectromechanical systems diaphragm embedded with silicon nanowires (SiNWs) is proposed for chloroform vapor detection at room temperature. The PDMS film swells and leads to the deformation of micro-diaphragm when it is exposed to vapor. The SiNWs are connected in a Wheatstone bridge which is used to transform the deformation into a measurable output voltage. This sensor provides good linearity, sensitivity, and repeatability. The sensitivity of our sensor for chloroform vapor detection is 1.41 μV/V/ppm, while the power consumption is as low as 2 μW.

Keywords

bridge circuits; deformation; diaphragms; elemental semiconductors; gas sensors; nanoelectromechanical devices; nanosensors; nanowires; piezoresistive devices; polymer films; silicon; thin film sensors; PDMS film; PDMS-coated piezoresistive NEMS diaphragm; Si; SiNW; Wheatstone bridge; chloroform vapor detection; measurable output voltage; microdiaphragm deformation; polydimethylsiloxane-coated nanoelectromechanical systems diaphragm; power consumption; sensor sensitivity; silicon nanowires; temperature 293 K to 298 K; Ethanol; Nanoelectromechanical systems; Piezoresistance; Polymers; Power demand; Sensitivity; Silicon; Chloroform vapor sensor; nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) diaphragm; piezoresistive silicon nanowires (SiNWs); polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) film;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Electron Device Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0741-3106

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/LED.2012.2195152

Filename

6213067