A micro helium-discharge photoionization detector for gas sensing

Author

Narayanan, Shrikanth ; Agah, Masoud ; Rice, Gary

Author_Institution

Bradley Dept. of ECE, VT MEMS Lab., Blacksburg, VA, USA

fYear

2013

fDate

3-6 Nov. 2013

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

4

Abstract

This paper reports a 2cm × 1cm easy-to-micromachine helium discharge photoionization detector (μHeDPID) for use in micro gas chromatography by utilizing a lift-off process. This universal detector consumes a miserly 2.5mW for plasma generation and non-destructively photoionizes analyte compounds, thus avoiding fouling of electrodes. The ionized species is detected by a remote electrode connected to a picoammeter. The detector exhibits at least 350pg and 50ppm detection limit for n-octane in air. Despite the detector simplicity, its efficiency is in par with previously reported destructive plasma detectors which are based on more sophisticated spectrometric analysis.

Keywords

chromatography; electrochemical electrodes; gas sensors; helium; maintenance engineering; micromachining; microsensors; photodetectors; photoionisation; plasma devices; plasma production; μHe-DPID; He; gas sensing; lift-off process; microgas chromatography; micromachine helium discharge photoionization detector; n-octane; nondestructively photoionizes analyte compound; picoammeter; plasma detector; plasma generation; power 2.5 mW; remote fouling electrode; spectrometric analysis; Detectors; Electrodes; Gas chromatography; Ionization; Microfluidics; Plasmas;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

SENSORS, 2013 IEEE

Conference_Location

Baltimore, MD

ISSN

1930-0395

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ICSENS.2013.6688154

Filename

6688154