SBIR Phase I: Post-CMOS Ionic Liquid Electrochemical Gas Sensors

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目的更广泛/商业影响是开发准确，快速，小型化和低成本的气体传感器，适合集成到物联网（IoT）设备中。该传感器的成功商业应用将广泛造福社会。包含智能手机和可穿戴设备等传感器的物联网设备可以直接帮助美国1000万哮喘患者和全球数十亿易受空气污染影响的人群。这些设备通过检测公用事业、工业厂房或运输设施中的气体泄漏或气体积聚等危险情况来提高安全性。跨物联网设备网络共享信息可提供更准确的时空气体信息，通过向应急响应和监管执法人员提供信息，促进公共安全。与其他气体传感器技术相比，该传感器的竞争优势可以通过填补智能手机等以前无法进入的设备的市场空缺，转化为商业上的成功。由此产生的项目活动也将通过推进电化学研究前沿和培养物联网应用的跨学科创业精神，造福科学、教育和当地社区。该项目将最先进的微加工方法和电化学气体传感技术的最新发展结合起来，重塑传统的电化学气体传感器。第一阶段的可行性研究重点是克服电化学气体传感器小型化和微制造过程中液体电解质处理的未满足的挑战。提出了一种创新的微加工结构，采用半导体兼容的制造工艺。传感器稳定性被提议在电极-电解质界面的背景下进行研究，这是一个尚未被很好理解的领域。所提出的微加工结构为电极-电解质界面研究带来了新的定量视角，并可能产生新的基础知识，以帮助提高传感器的性能。拟议的研究活动预计将实现2x2x0.5mm外形尺寸的一氧化碳传感器，该传感器消耗亚微安电流，由物联网传感器网络平台演示。在第二阶段，更多气体的传感器，包括臭氧、一氧化氮、甲烷等，将通过后CMOS微加工工艺在互补金属氧化物半导体（CMOS）集成电路（IC）上实现，该集成电路包含电位器和数据转换器。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader/commercial impact of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is the development of accurate, fast, miniaturized and low-cost gas sensors that are suitable for integration into internet of things (IoT) devices. Successful commercial implementation of the proposed sensors would broadly benefit society. IoT devices incorporating those sensors such as smartphones and wearables can directly help 10 million asthma patients in the US and billions of air pollutant vulnerable people worldwide. These devices enhance safety by detecting dangerous conditions such as a gas leak or gas build-up in a utility, industrial plant or transportation facility. Sharing information across networks of IoT devices provides more accurate temporal and spatial gas information, promoting public safety by making the information available to emergency response and regulatory enforcement personnel. The competitive advantages of the proposed sensor over other gas sensor technologies can be transformed into commercial success by filling the market vacancy into previously inaccessible devices like smartphones. Resulting project activities would also benefit science, education and local communities by advancing the research frontier on electrochemistry and nurturing cross-disciplinary entrepreneurship with IoT applications.The proposed project brings together state-of-the-art microfabrication methods and the most recent developments of electrochemical gas sensing technology to reinvent the traditional electrochemical gas sensor. The Phase I feasibility research focuses on overcoming the unmet challenges of electrochemical gas sensor miniaturization and liquid electrolyte handling in microfabrication processes. An innovative microfabricated structure is proposed using semiconductor-compatible manufacturing processes. Sensor stability is proposed to be studied in the context of the electrode-electrolyte interface, a not well understood area. The proposed microfabricated structures bring a new quantitative perspective to the electrode-electrolyte interface study and may generate new knowledge on fundamentals to help improve sensor performance. The proposed research activity is expected to achieve a carbon monoxide sensor of 2x2x0.5mm form factor that consumes sub micro amps of current, demonstrated by an IoT sensor network platform. In Phase II, sensors of more gases, including ozone, nitric oxide, methane, etc. will be implemented on a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) integrated circuit (IC) containing potentiostats and a data converter through post-CMOS microfabrication processes.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.