GaN-based sensor nodes for in situ detection of gases
AssigneesCalifornia Institute of Technology, HRL Laboratories, LLC, The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy
InventorsJeong-Sun Moon, Nicholas Prokopuk, Kyung-Ah Son
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system for detecting chemical/biological substances and a detection method. The system comprises a plurality of sensing units or nodes and a radiofrequency link. Each unit has several sensors with different sensing curves. Each sensor is able to transmit information related to the sensed substance on a specific frequency. The sensors preferably comprise AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors.
Claims29
A detection system comprising:
- a plurality of sensing units, each sensing unit comprising a plurality of transistor-based sensors, each of the transistor-based sensors having a different sensing characteristic from the other transistor-based sensors, and each of the transistor-based sensors comprising different gate electrodes, said gate electrodes being optimized for detection and identification of a particular chemical species by way of a desorption temperature profile carried out by an operation selected from i) operating each sensor at a specific temperature and ii) applying a thermal ramp over a particular temperature range;
- the detection system further comprising:
- a radio frequency link, to allow transmission of sensor signals from the sensors to a receiving unit.
A detection method comprising:
- providing at least one sensor node, the sensor node comprising a plurality of sensors, each sensor having a first signal output if a substance is sensed and a second signal output if a substance is not sensed;
- each sensor comprising a sensing portion and a reference portion, the sensing portion and the reference portion being arranged in a differential configuration;
- allocating a transmission frequency to each sensor;
- and
- providing a transmitter to transmit a transmission signal indicative of the first or second signal output around the transmission frequency of one of the sensors.
A detection method comprising:
- providing a plurality of transistor-based sensors, wherein each of the transistor-based sensors is different and each of the transistor-based sensors comprises a different gate electrode to detect a specific chemical or biological species in a detection medium;
- and
- characterizing the chemical or biological species by a desorption temperature profile of the species on the gate electrode of each sensor;
- operating the sensor by applying a thermal ramp over a particular temperature range;
- and collecting sensor data, the sensor data comprising:
- temperature reading data, sensor signal data, and radio frequency data associated with said sensor signal.
A detection method comprising:
- providing a plurality of transistor-based sensors, wherein each of the transistor-based sensors is different and adapted to detect and identify a specific chemical or biological species in a detection medium;
- locating the transistor-based sensors on one or more sensing nodes;
- selecting one between i) operating each sensor at a specific temperature, and ii) applying a thermal ramp over a certain temperature range;
- and
- providing a radio frequency link to allow transmission of sensor signals from each of said one or more sensing nodes to a receiving unit.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.