A MEMS Singlet Oxygen Generator—Part I: Device Fabrication and Proof of Concept Demonstration

This paper reports the design, fabrication, and proof of concept demonstration of a singlet oxygen generator (SOG) that operates on the microscale. The micro-SOG (muSOG) chip is implemented in a three-wafer stack using deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) and wafer bonding as key technologies. The device creates singlet delta oxygen (O₂(a)) in an array of packed-bed reaction channels fed by inlet manifolds with pressure drop channels that ballast the flow. An integrated capillary array separates the liquid and gas by-products, and a microscale heat exchanger removes excess heat of reaction. The fabrication process and package are designed to minimize collisional losses and wall deactivation of O₂(a). The design, fabrication, and package of the device are documented. Proof of concept demonstration of the device is given by optical emission measurements of the spontaneous decay of the O₂ (a) molecule into its triplet state and by the observation of the emission from dimol pairs of O₂ (a) molecules.