Environmental Toxic and Flammable Gas Detector Based on Silicon Carbide MOS Sensor Array
[Project's page]

Coordinated by: Gheorghe Brezeanu

Other department members involved in this project: Nicoleta Brănişteanu, Florin Drăghici, Gheorghe Pristavu,

Description:

There is a high need for gas microsensors in many areas of the industry. Some applications request sensors that can operate in high temperature and chemically reactive environments.
The objective of our project is to develop a silicon carbide (SiC) MOS capacitor sensor which can detect environmental toxic and flammable gases. This type of sensor is well suited for such application because it has high selectivity and sensitivity, fast response, short recovery time and low power consumption. The use of silicon carbide is a key feature that allows the sensor to function at high temperatures.
Several innovative material and structures will be developed that will increase the performances of the present SiC MOS capacitor sensors. Every structure will be highly sensitive to a certain type of gas. Structures with different characteristics will be integrated in an array in order to increase the range of gases that can be detected precisely. A drive circuit will be developed. Its purpose is to measure the output of the gas sensor and transmit it to a PC. On the PC a custom software application will be developed. This application receives the measured values from the drive circuit and analyzes them in order to determine the concentration and type of the detected gas.
The sensors and drive circuit will first be designed and simulated. Then the SiC MOS structures will be characterized using a semiconductor characterization system and a controlled environment chamber. C-V characteristics will be plotted for all the structures in different gas mixtures environments. Then, the sensors and the drive circuits will be fabricated and the custom software application will be developed. The prototype will be tested in the controlled environment chamber and in real applications and the necessary adjustment will be performed.