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US 10,804,850 B2Granted
Gas sensor using mm wave cavity
AssigneeInnovative Micro Technology
InventorsChristopher S. Gudeman, Abbaspour Tamijani
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Abstract
Systems and methods for forming a compact gas sensor include using a lithographically fabricated high Q resonator coupled to at least one of a Gunn diode and an IMPATT diode. The resonator may include a plurality of cavities filled with a sample gas. A detector coupled to the resonator may measure the amplitude of the emitted mm wave radiation.
Claims19
A gas sensing device, comprising:
- a mm wave source, emitting radiation having a frequency spectrum in the mm range;
- at least one lithographically fabricated high-Q resonator, and coupled to the mm wave source, wherein the resonator has at least one cavity formed in a semiconductor substrate, wherein the at least one cavity has a characteristic dimension of one half of a wavelength in the frequency spectrum of the mm-wave emission source, wherein the at least one cavity is dimensioned to define a resonant structure for at least some frequencies in the frequency spectrum of the mm wave source, wherein the at least one resonator comprises a plurality of resonators, wherein the plurality of resonators are collocated on the semiconductor substrate;
- and
- a mm wave detector which detects the radiation transmitted from the mm wave source through the at least one resonator.
1 more element
A method for sensing gases, comprising:
- applying radiation from a mm wave source to an aperture;
- applying the radiation from the aperture to at least one lithographically fabricated high-Q resonator coupled to the mm wave source, gas, wherein the at least one resonator comprises a plurality of resonators, wherein the plurality of resonators are collocated on the semiconductor substrate wherein the resonator each has a plurality of cavities filled with a sample gas, wherein the cavities have a characteristic dimension of between 0.5 mm and 15 mms, and a resonant frequency between 100 and 500 GHz;
- and
- measuring the magnitude of the radiation transmitted through the cavities as a function of the frequency of the radiation, to identify constituents of the sample.
1 more element
A method for manufacturing a gas sensor, comprising:
- providing at least one of a Gunn diode and an IMPATT diode mm wave source;
- coupling the mm wave source to an input conductor;
- lithographically fabricating at least one high-Q resonator and coupling the resonator to the mm wave conductor, wherein the resonator has a plurality of cavities with a characteristic dimension of 100 microns and
- coupling the mm wave source to the resonator and to a mm wave detector which detects the radiation transmitted from the mm wave source through the at least one resonator.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.