STTR Phase I: A micro-Thermionic Ionization Source for Chemical Detection

这个小型企业技术转让第一阶段项目将推动新的便携式气体分析系统的开发。便携式分析系统可以提供有关周围环境的及时信息，从而在危急情况下做出更好的决策。对于执法部门来说，基于拟议技术的便携式探测器将使警察能够将调查重点放在特定目标上，无论是毒品还是爆炸物。同样，对于军事和民防行动，即使大部分材料被很好地隐藏起来，也可以检测到微量爆炸物。具有拟议探测器的便携式系统将能够在复杂背景下轻松地识别和量化十亿分之一级的化学战剂和杀虫剂。有了这些低级别的精确代理检测，这些系统的用户将拥有更好的信息和更多的时间来对这些信息采取行动。在农业中，更好的检测器将导致更明智地使用杀虫剂，从而在减少人类暴露的同时提高其有效性。考虑到所有潜在的应用，拟议的工作可能会导致每年20亿美元的气体检测市场中6亿美元的细分市场取得重大进展。该项目的智力优势是基于桑迪亚国家实验室和Defiant Technologies在开发用于化学检测的微型部件和系统方面投资多年的工作。该提案的目标是开发一种新的电离源，可以取代放射性物质和其他更大、更耗电的热电子源。新的热离子电离源将使用微电子机械系统(MEMS)制造技术来形成在600摄氏度下高效运行的毫米级加热元件。将开发并开发新技术，在这些加热器上配制和沉积低功能做功材料，以构建电离源。这项研究将需要探索用于低功函数材料的碱金属配方，用于延长加热器寿命的加热器制造，以及可能的失效机制的源操作条件。在第一阶段工作结束时，目标是开发一种电离源，该电离源可以与便携式气相色谱仪和便携式离子流动系统相结合，用于检测和分析爆炸物、化学战剂、杀虫剂和麻醉品。

This Small Business Technology Transfer Phase I project will advance the development of new portable gas analysis systems. Portable analysis systems can provide timely information about the surroundings, leading to better decisions in critical situations. For law enforcement, a portable detector based on the proposed technology will enable officers to focus an investigation on specific targets, whether narcotics or explosives. Likewise, for military and civil defense operations, trace explosives can be detected even when the bulk of the material is well concealed. A portable system with the proposed detector will easily be able to identify and quantify chemical warfare agents and pesticides at single part-per-billion levels in complex backgrounds. With precise agent detection at these low levels, the users of these systems will have better information and more time to act on that information. In agriculture, a better detector will lead to a more judicious use of pesticides and thereby increase their effectiveness while reducing human exposure. Considering all of the potential applications, the proposed work could lead to significant advancements in a $600 million segment of the $2 billion annual gas detection market. The intellectual merit of this project is based on the years of work that Sandia National Laboratories and Defiant Technologies have invested in the development of micro components and systems for chemical detection. The proposal objective is to develop a new ionization source that can replace radioactive materials, and other larger and more power hungry thermionic sources. The new thermionic ionization source will use micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) fabrication techniques to form a millimeter-scale heating element that operates efficiently at 600 degrees C. New techniques to formulate and deposit low function work materials on these heaters will be developed and exploited to construct the ionization sources. The research will entail an exploration of alkali metal formulations for the low-work function material, heater fabrication for longevity, and source operating conditions for possible failure mechanisms. At the end of this Phase I effort, the goal is to develop an ionization source that can be coupled with portable gas chromatograph and portable ion mobility systems for the detection and analysis of explosives, chemical warfare agents, pesticides, and narcotics.