Enabling MEMS Chemical Microsensor Arrays for Trace Analyte Detection

We describe the development of a conductometric gas microsensor technology that combines, in an optimized manner, nanostructured sensing films, MEMS microhotplate array platforms, and artificial neural networks signal processing. Individually addressable microelements, including varied semiconducting oxides, are temperature modulated to produce analytically rich data streams that allow recognition of low concentration target analytes in background mixtures. This brief report emphasizes: 1) recently developed selection and processing methods for incorporation of high performance sensing materials on the MEMS platforms, 2) special operational modes and data acquisition approaches for ensuring good signal quality while maximizing information content, and 3) signal analysis techniques that include preprocessing routines and advanced recognition algorithms.