Towards advanced chemical microsensors-an overview

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Chemical Engineering
• Sensor Technology

Background:

• Miniaturized chemical sensors are crucial for various analytical applications.
• Silicon-based transducers, including ion-sensitive field-effect transistors (ISFET) and solid-state electrodes (SSE), offer potential for high-performance sensing.
• Effective integration of ion-selective membranes with transducers is key to sensor functionality.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present the design and performance evaluation of miniaturized chemical sensors.
• To investigate the role of intermediate layers between silicon transducers and ion-selective membranes.
• To explore the use of different polymeric matrices in microsensor fabrication.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of sensors using back-side contact structures for flow-cell mounting.
• Utilizing ion-sensitive field-effect transistors (ISFET) and solid-state electrodes (SSE) as silicon transducers.
• Employing various polymeric matrices, including polysiloxanes, polyacrylates (polymethacrylates), and polyurethanes, for microsensor construction.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated the successful design and fabrication of miniaturized chemical sensors.
• Evaluated the performance of ISFET and SSE based sensors.
• Highlighted the significance of the intermediate layer for sensor performance.
• Assessed the suitability of different polymeric matrices for microsensor applications.

Conclusions:

• Miniaturized chemical sensors based on ISFET and SSE can be effectively fabricated.
• The intermediate layer plays a critical role in the performance of these sensors.
• Various polymeric matrices are suitable for manufacturing high-performance microsensors.