Designing and optimizing microsensor arrays for recognizing chemical hazards in complex environments

A generic approach to designing microsensor arrays for complex chemical sensing tasks is described and demonstrated for the problem of recognizing chemical hazards at sublethal concentrations, under varying ambient conditions, and in the presence of interfering chemicals. We present statistical methods to systematically assess the analytical information obtained from the conductometric responses of chemiresistive elements at different operating temperatures, test their reproducibility, and determine an optimal set of material compositions to be incorporated within an array for individual species recognition. These advances are critical to the production of pre-programmed microsensors for non-invasive trace analyte detection relevant to homeland security, medical diagnostics, and other applications.