Frequency profile measurement system for microcantilever-array based gas sensor

Maira Possas (1) , Lionel Rousseau (1) , Farbod Ghassemi (1) , Gaelle Bazin Lissorgues (1) , Emmanuel Scorsone (2) , Rafaa Manai (2) , Philippe Bergonzo (2)

1 ESYCOM - Electronique, Systèmes de communication et Microsystèmes
2 LCD-LIST - Laboratoire Capteurs Diamant

This paper presents an autonomous instrument based on an array of 8 MEMS micro cantilevers for gas sensor application. The main contribution of this system to the MEMS domain lies on the way the micro cantilevers are optimally exposed to a constant gas flow in a gas cell where the electrical connections to the sensors are done without any wire-bonding. Sensors can therefore be easily changed for another application or for maintenance. Moreover, this complete and autonomous system is able to extract in real time (1 reading/sec) the frequency response of all the MEMS cantilevers by using an innovative mixed-signal processing circuit featuring self-diagnostic and automatic-calibration. Other novelties are the simultaneous piezo-electric excitation of the sensor-array, a low-noise polarization circuit and the detection circuit optimized for piezo-resistive micro cantilevers. From a system point of view this instrument provides the ability to monitor the frequency profiles of an array of resonant gas sensors.

Keywords: frequency profile measurement system; piezoresistive microcantilever; microcantilever; frequency profile; mixed-signal processing circuit; measurement system; maintenance; wire-bonding; constant gas flow; MEMS microcantilever; microcantilever-array based resonant gas sensor; gas sensor; Gas detectors; Computer architecture; Microprocessors; microsensors; piezoelectric transducers; detection circuit; low-noise polarization circuit; piezoelectric excitation; automatic-calibration; Optical variables measurement; Resonant frequency; Frequency measurement; piezoresistive devices; sensor arrays; calibration; cantilevers; detector circuits; piezoelectricity

Domains: Micro and nanotechnologies/Microelectronics; Instrumentation and Detectors [physics.ins-det]; Analytical chemistry; Signal and Image processing; Electromagnetism; Materials; Biomaterials

Maira Possas, Lionel Rousseau, Farbod Ghassemi, Gaelle Bazin Lissorgues, Emmanuel Scorsone, et al.. Frequency profile measurement system for microcantilever-array based gas sensor. 2015 Symposium on Design, Test, Integration and Packaging of MEMS/MOEMS (DTIP), Apr 2015, Montpellier, France. pp.7160999, ⟨10.1109/DTIP.2015.7160999⟩. ⟨cea-01912721⟩