Tin oxide nanowire sensor with integrated temperature and gate control for multi-gas recognition

The selectivity of a chemiresistive gas sensor comprising an array of single-crystalline tin oxide nanowires (NWs) is shown to be greatly enhanced by combined temperature and gate voltage modulation. This dual modulation was effected by a novel microsensor platform that consisted of a suspended nitride membrane embedded with independently addressable platinum heater and back-gate structures. The sensor was evaluated in a chemical vapor exposure test consisting of three volatile organic compound (VOC) analytes in an air background; VOC concentrations ranged from 20 mu mol/mol to 80 mu mol/mol. During the exposure test, the temperature and gating conditions of the NW sensor were modulated in order to induce variations in the sensor's analyte response behavior. By treating these temperature-and gate-dependent analyte response variations as an identifying "fingerprint,'' analyte identification was achieved using a statistical pattern recognition procedure, linear discriminant analysis (LDA). Through optimization of this pattern recognition procedure, a VOC recognition rate of 98% was obtained. An analysis of the recognition results revealed that this high recognition rate could only be achieved through the combined modulation of temperature and gate bias as compared to either parameter alone. Overall, the highly accurate VOC analyte discrimination that was achieved here confirms the selectivity benefits provided by the utilized dual modulation approach and demonstrates the suitability of miniature nanowire sensors in real-world, multi-chemical detection problems.