A micromachined preconcentrator for enhanced trace detection of illicit materials

Author

McGill, R. Andrew ; Martin, Michael ; Ross, Stuart ; Stepnowski, Jennifer ; Stepnowski, Stanley ; Houser, Eric ; Mott, David ; Walsh, Kevin ; Crain, Mark ; Nguyen, Viet ; Wu, H.-D. ; Voiculescu, Ioana

Author_Institution

Naval Res. Lab., Washington, DC, USA

fYear

2003

fDate

10-12 Dec. 2003

Firstpage

494

Abstract

In this paper, we design and fabricate a robust micromachined cascade avalanche sorbent plate array (CASPAR) preconcentrators. The CASPAR is designed to provide a low pressure drop compatible with high flow collections, high vapour collection efficiency for target analytes, a low thermal mass for a shot thermal time constant, and low power operation. The preconcentrator is integrated to existing chemical agent and trace explosive detectors, and successfully tested. Comparison of conventional preconcentrator and CASPAR characteristics are discussed.

Keywords

chemical sensors; microsensors; polymers; cascade avalanche sorbent plate array; enhanced trace detection; flow collections; illicit materials; micromachined preconcentrator; pressure drop; target analytes; thermal mass; thermal time constant; trace explosive detectors; vapour collection efficiency; Chemicals; Detectors; Explosives; Laboratories; Polymer films; Robustness; Silicon; Sprites (computer); Testing; Transportation;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Semiconductor Device Research Symposium, 2003 International

Print_ISBN

0-7803-8139-4

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ISDRS.2003.1272217

Filename

1272217