STTR Phase I: Self-Calibrating, High Sensitivity, Harsh Environment Gas Sensors

该项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力将是解决由半导体和电化学气体传感器主导的低端气体传感器市场与由红外气体传感器主导的高端气体传感器市场之间的差距。半导体气体传感器能力的增强将缩小这一差距，这将扩大它们在现有应用中的使用，并颠覆性地开辟新的应用，特别是在对成本敏感的工业应用中。这将有助于满足日益增长的对气体传感器的需求，这些需求是由政府加强工作场所安全和排放控制法规推动的。这项技术可以普遍应用于检测占全球市场大部分的气体-二氧化碳、氧气、氢气、甲烷和一氧化碳等，这些将在第二阶段得到进一步探索。该技术还可以应用于生物制剂的检测，如蛋白质、癌细胞或DNA。这一STTR项目将推进现有的电子材料和设备技术，其成果将通过档案期刊文章和会议发言加以传播。此外，一名西班牙裔研究生将参与该项目，并将有机会在小企业企业中花费时间并在小企业环境中进行研究。这个小企业技术转移研究(STTR)第一阶段项目将开发基于增强型AlIn/GaN高电子迁移率晶体管(HEMT)的高灵敏度气体传感器，该晶体管带有功能化的栅电极，提供自我校准和在恶劣环境下运行的能力。晶格匹配Alinn的使用消除了III-氮化物材料中通常存在的压电极化，特别是在高温下，而使用增强模式(常闭)操作能够通过具有零背景信号来实现气体传感器的自校准。虽然对特定气体的灵敏度取决于功能涂层的选择，但第一阶段的工作将重点放在氢气传感器上，目标是实现亚ppm的灵敏度。前半部分的工作致力于优化增强模式AlinN/GaN HEMT的材料和器件性能，以提高氢敏性。工作的后半部分致力于将HEMT集成和封装到氢气传感器中，并在恶劣条件下进行测试。如果成功，这项研究将使低成本半导体气体传感器具有新的能力，特别是在恶劣环境下的应用。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this project will be to address the gap between the low-end gas sensor market, dominated by semiconductor and electrochemical gas sensors, and the high-end gas sensor market, dominated by infrared gas sensors. Augmenting the capabilities of semiconductor gas sensors will close this gap, which will expand their use in existing applications and disruptively open up new applications, especially in cost-sensitive industrial applications. This will help satisfy the progressive demand for gas sensors driven by increasing government regulations for workplace safety and emission control. The technology can be universally applied for the detection of gases that constitute a majority of the global market?carbon dioxide, oxygen, hydrogen, methane, and carbon monoxide, among others?which will be further explored during Phase II. The technology can also be applied for the detection of biological agents, such as proteins, cancer cells, or DNA. This STTR project will advance existing electronic materials and device technology, whose results will be disseminated through archival journal articles and conference presentations. In addition, a Hispanic graduate student will be participating in the project and will have the opportunity to spend time at the small business concern and conduct research in a small business environment.This Small Business Technology Transfer Research (STTR) Phase I project will develop high sensitivity gas sensors based on enhancement-mode AlInN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) with functionalized gate electrodes to provide for self-calibration and operation in harsh environments. The use of lattice-matched AlInN eliminates the piezoelectric polarization typically found in III-nitride materials, especially at elevated temperatures, while the use of enhancement-mode (normally-off) operation enables self-calibration of the gas sensor by having a zero background signal. While sensitivity to a particular gas is determined by the choice of functional coating, the Phase I effort will focus on hydrogen gas sensors with the goal of achieving sub-ppm sensitivity. The first half of the effort is devoted to optimizing the material and device properties of the enhancement-mode AlInN/GaN HEMTs with respect to hydrogen sensitivity. The second half of the effort is devoted to the integration and packaging of the HEMTs into a hydrogen gas sensor and testing under adverse conditions. If successful, this research will enable new capabilities in low-cost semiconductor gas sensors, especially for harsh environment applications.