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Christoph Hagleitner

Publications and source records attributed to Christoph Hagleitner.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

Detection and discrimination capabilities of a multitransducer single-chip gas sensor system.

The performance of a single-chip, three-transducer, complementary metal oxide semiconductor gas sensor microsystem has been thoroughly evaluated. The monolithic gas sensor system includes three polymer-coated transducers, a mass-sensitive cantilever, a thermoelectric calorimetric sensor, and an interdigitated capacitive sensor that are integrated along with all electronic circuits needed to operate these sensors. The system additionally includes a temperature sensor and a serial interface unit so that it can be directly connected to, for example, a microcontroller. Several multitransducer chips have been coated with various partially selective polymers and then have been exposed to different volatile organic compounds. The sensitivities of the three different polymer-coated transducers to defined sets of gaseous analytes have been determined. The obtained sensitivity values have then been normalized with regard to the partition coefficients of the respective analyte/polymer combination to reveal the transducer-specific effects. The results of this investigation show that the three different transducers respond to fundamentally different molecular properties, such as the analyte molecular mass (mass-sensitive), its dielectric coefficient (capacitive), and its sorption heat (calorimetric) so that correlations between the determined sensitivity values and the different molecular properties of the absorbed analytes could be established. The information as provided by the system, hence, represents a body of orthogonal data that can serve as input to appropriate signal processing and pattern recognition techniques to address issues such as the quantification of analytes in mixtures.

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Metal oxide-based monolithic complementary metal oxide semiconductor gas sensor microsystem.

A fully integrated gas sensor microsystem is presented, which comprises for the first time a micro hot plate as well as advanced analog and digital circuitry on a single chip. The micro hot plate is coated with a nanocrystalline SnO2 thick film. The sensor chip is produced in an industrial 0.8-microm CMOS process with subsequent micromachining steps. A novel circular micro hot plate, which is 500 x 500 microm(2) in size, features an excellent temperature homogeneity of +/-2% over the heated area (300-microm diameter) and a high thermal efficiency of 6.0 degrees C/mW. A robust prototype package was developed, which relies on standard microelectronic packaging methods. Apart from a microcontroller board for managing chip communication and providing power supply and reference signals, no additional measurement equipment is needed. The on-chip digital temperature controller can accurately adjust the membrane temperature between 170 and 300 degrees C with an error of +/-2 degrees C. The on-chip logarithmic converter covers a wide measurement range between 1 kOmega and 10 MOmega. CO concentrations in the sub-parts-per-million range are detectable, and a resolution of +/-0.1 ppm CO was achieved, which renders the sensor capable of measuring CO concentrations at threshold levels.

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Complementary metal oxide semiconductor cantilever arrays on a single chip: mass-sensitive detection of volatile organic compounds.

The sensing behavior of polymer-coated resonant cantilevers for mass-sensitive detection of volatile organic compounds was investigated. Industrial complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology combined with subsequent CMOS-compatible micromachining was used to fabricate a single-chip system comprising the transducers and all necessary driving and signal-conditioning circuitry. An analytical model was developed to describe the mass-sensing mechanism of polymer-coated resonant cantilevers. The model was validated by measurements of various gaseous analytes. As an exemplary application, the quantitative analysis of a binary mixture using an array of four cantilevers is described. Experimental results are given for the concentration prediction of a mixture of n-octane and toluene. Finally, it was established that the limit of detection achieved with cantilever sensors is comparable to that of other acoustic wave-based gas sensors.

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A complementary-metal-oxide-semiconductor-field-effect-transistor-compatible atomic force microscopy tip fabrication process and integrated atomic force microscopy cantilevers fabricated with this process.

A complementary-metal-oxide-semiconductor-field-effect-transistor-compatible process for the fabrication of atomic force microscopy cantilevers with integrated tips has been developed. For the first time, the tips are fabricated after the completion of the regular complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor-field-effect-transistor fabrication process sequence. On-chip circuit components, such as piezoresistive deflection sensors, deflection actuators, and amplifiers, are fabricated on the mirror-polished surface of the wafer, ensuring optimal performance. The tip fabrication process is based on anisotropic silicon etching at low temperature using a tetramethylammonium hydroxide solution. The anisotropic etching process has been optimized to ensure process controllability. Using the described process, complementary-metal-oxide-semiconductor-field-effect-transistor-based cantilevers with piezoresistive deflection sensors and integrated tips have been successfully fabricated. Force-distance curves and scanning images in constant-force mode have been recorded.

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