Discontinuously operated metal oxide gas sensors for flexible tag microlab applications

Micromachined silicon substrates have significantly reduced the heating power consumption of metal oxide (MOX) gas sensors. Specific applications, however, require further reductions far beyond the present state-of-the-art. In this paper, we report on discontinuously operated MOX gas sensors on micromachined heater platforms and show that such sensors allow power consumption levels to be reached which are consistent with Flexible Tag Microlab (FTM) operation. Such FTMs allow gas concentrations to be measured and recorded to reveal the transport history of goods along the logistics chain for later interrogation by a wireless reader.