Low-voltage (<5V) ion-mobility spectrometer array for label-free gas detection

Fast and reliable detection of toxic gas-phase industrial chemicals and warfare agents, which may be combustible, odorless, and colorless, necessitates the use of miniaturized multi-functional and portable gas analyzing systems. In this paper, we present a silicon micromachined ion-mobility spectrometer array (IMSA) using a versatile high aspect-ratio 3-D fabrication process and operating at less than 5V. The multi-electrode architecture facilitates simultaneous detection of more than one toxic gas species. Such a device has potential use for on-chip ion trapping in a quadrupole or hexapole electrode configuration. It also paves the way for a label-free gas analyzing system that can be monolithically integrated with on-chip low-noise amplifiers to produce a low-cost mobile platform for detection and analysis of multiple gas species.