Micromachined electrical mobility analyzer for wide range airborne particle classification

This paper reports a micromachined nano electrical mobility analyzer (nEMA) for nano- sized airborne particle classification. The micromachined nEMA is a particle classifier that uses both the inertia and electrical mobility of the particles for the classification. The microchannel of the nEMA is defined by silicon bulk micromachining. The collection efficiency of the solid particle, NaCl with a diameter of less than 50 nm, was examined using the nEMA by applying an electrical potential. For various electric field magnitude ranging from 10 to 160 V, the particle diameter collected in the outlet was measured. The collection efficiency of 40 nm particles was investigated by increasing an electric field, and it was highest at 70 V.