Critical Influence of Dielectric Sensitive Material and Manufactured Process in Microwave Gas-Sensing: Application of Ammonia Detection with an Interdigital Sensor.

In this paper, authors propose a study on microwave gas sensors and the influence of critical key parameters such as the sensitive material and the circuit conception process. This work aims to determine the influence of these parameters on the quality of the final response of the microwave gas sensor. The fixed geometry of the sensor is a microstrip interdigital capacitor coated with a sensitive layer excited with two 50 Ω SMA ports. The sensitive material has been chosen in order to interact with the target gas: ammonia. Indeed, this gas interacts with phthalocyanine and metal oxides like hematite, TiO. To explore the effect of the circuit manufacturing process, three series of samples are prepared. The first series of sensors is produced by classical UV photolithography (process) in the laboratory. The second series of sensors is produced by a subcontractor specialized in rf circuits. The third series is obtained by the experimental platform of the FEMTO-ST laboratory with EVG620 Automated Mask Alignment System Nanoimprint lithography in a clean room. To examine the reliability of this gas sensor at room temperature, it was exposed to different ammonia gas concentrations from 100 to 500 ppm in an argon flow to eliminate coadsorption phenomena. According to the recorded frequency responses, the reflection and transmission coefficients show a change of resonance amplitude due to electrical characteristic modification. This can be correlated to the presence of gaseous ammonia. The chemical nature of the sensitive material layer has a major influence at the excited frequency range. The process of conception influences the sensor sensitivity. The analysis of the results shows a strong correlation between the injected ammonia concentration and its frequency response. The influence of the critical key parameters cited is discussed here.