SBIR Phase I: Integrated Field Asymmetric Ion Mobility Sensor for Volatile Organic Compound Detection

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目将展示一种新型微制造气体传感器的可行性，用于检测空气中浓度低于百万分之一的挥发性有机化合物（VOCs）。关键的创新是将场不对称离子迁移谱（FAIMS）与电晕放电电离（CDI）相结合，将这两种功能集成到单个传感器芯片上。这种集成和批量微制造技术的使用将在小型，低成本的传感器中提供高灵敏度和选择性的离子迁移化学检测，适用于空气质量监测和早期预警火灾探测。更广泛的影响将是为高灵敏度和选择性CDI-FAIMS传感器的原型设计和测试铺平道路，该传感器适用于一系列消费和工业应用中的VOC监测。一系列挥发性有机化合物对健康的不利影响是众所周知的，但在家庭和工作环境中监测它们的有效的大众市场技术尚不存在。因此，小型、灵敏、低成本VOC传感器的商业化可能对人类健康和安全产生巨大的积极影响。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will demonstrate the feasibility of a novel micro-fabricated gas sensor for detection of airborne volatile organic compounds (VOCs) at concentrations below 1 part-per-million. The key enabling innovation is the combination of field asymmetric ion mobility spectrometry (FAIMS) with corona discharge ionization (CDI), with both functions integrated on to a single sensor chip. This integration and the use of batch micro-fabrication techniques will deliver the high sensitivity and selectivity of ion mobility chemical detection in a small, low-cost sensor suitable for air quality monitoring and early warning fire detection. The broader impact of this will be to pave the way for prototyping and testing of a highly sensitive and selective CDI-FAIMS sensor suitable for VOC monitoring in a range of consumer and industrial applications. The adverse health effects of a range of VOCs are well-known, but effective mass-market technologies for monitoring them in domestic and work environments do not yet exist. Commercialization of a small, sensitive, low cost VOC sensor could therefore have an enormous positive impact on human health and safety.