Effects of electrode configuration on polymer carbon-black composite chemical vapor sensor performance

The performance of polymer carbon-black composite chemical vapor sensors as a function of underlying electrode size and geometry has been studied. The sensor performance parameters investigated were sensor response magnitude to a toluene analyte (100, 500, and 1000 ppm), fundamental sensor noise in the presence of air, and two concentrations of toluene (100 and 500 ppm), and signal-to-noise ratio (100 and 500 ppm). An array of sensors with 42 different circular electrode configurations were designed, fabricated, and tested where electrode gap was varied from 10 to 500 μm and the diameter of the sensors was varied from 30 to 2000 μm. Each array of electrodes was coated with an approximately 1 μm-thick layer of conducting polymer carbon-black composite with an insulating poly(alkylacrylate) polymer. The response magnitude, fundamental noise, and signal-to-noise ratio of each sensor was measured and compared to electrode geometry, such as electrode gap, aspect ratio, and overall size. No significant dependence of sensor response magnitude and noise to electrode configuration has been observed to be larger than the variation from sensor to sensor. However, the signal-to-noise ratio tended to decrease for sensors with the smallest scales.