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

这项小型企业技术转让第一期项目将推动新型便携式气体分析系统的发展。便携式分析系统可以提供有关周围环境的及时信息，从而在关键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官员能够将调查重点放在特定目标上，无论是麻醉品还是爆炸物。同样，在军事和民防行动中，即使大部分材料隐藏得很好，也能探测到痕量爆炸物。携带该探测器的便携式系统将很容易在复杂背景下以十亿分之一的水平识别和量化化学战剂和农药。通过在这些低水平上进行精确的代理检测，这些系统的用户将获得更好的信息，并有更多的时间根据这些信息采取行动。在农业中，更好的检测器将导致更明智地使用农药，从而提高其有效性，同时减少人类接触。考虑到所有潜在的应用，拟议的工作可能会在每年20亿美元的气体检测市场中带来6亿美元的重大进步。该项目的智力价值是基于桑迪亚国家实验室和目中无人技术公司多年来在化学检测微组件和系统开发方面的投资。这项提议的目标是开发一种新的电离源，可以取代放射性物质，以及其他更大、更耗电的热离子源。新的热离子电离源将采用微机电系统（MEMS）制造技术，形成在600摄氏度下有效工作的毫米级加热元件。新的技术将在这些加热器上形成和沉积低功能工作材料，并将开发和开发用于构建电离源。这项研究将需要探索用于低功功能材料的碱金属配方，用于寿命的加热器制造以及可能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，可以与便携式气相色谱仪和便携式离子迁移系统相结合，用于检测和分析爆炸物，化学战剂，农药和麻醉品。

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.