Industrialisation of Gas Sensors for Comfort, Security and Wellness

Variations in the design of gas sensing Microsystems yield a wide variety of device characteristics that can be exploited to fulfill heterogeneous application requirements. For successful industrialization, of a gas sensing application, care has to be taken in advance, that the chosen sensing technology has the potential to fulfill all needs of the intended application. Gas sensors based on the conductance modulation of semi-conducting metal oxides are characterized by very simple and robust constructions. Limits are in selectivity. The successful applications for regulation of home gas burners and for Ethanol detection in human breath for car interlocks are discussed. The usage of the potential readout of gas sensing materials with FET-devices allows access to a wide variety of sensing materials that distinctly opens up the variety of gases that can be detected using metal oxide gas sensors. The premises of the usage of these gas sensors for successful fire detection and monitoring of the room air quality are discussed.