A miniature electronic nose system based on an MWNT-polymer microsensor array and a low-power signal-processing chip

Anal Bioanal Chem. 2014 Jun;406(16):3985-94. doi: 10.1007/s00216-013-7547-0. Epub 2014 Jan 3.

Abstract

This article introduces a power-efficient, miniature electronic nose (e-nose) system. The e-nose system primarily comprises two self-developed chips, a multiple-walled carbon nanotube (MWNT)-polymer based microsensor array, and a low-power signal-processing chip. The microsensor array was fabricated on a silicon wafer by using standard photolithography technology. The microsensor array comprised eight interdigitated electrodes surrounded by SU-8 "walls," which restrained the material-solvent liquid in a defined area of 650 × 760 μm(2). To achieve a reliable sensor-manufacturing process, we used a two-layer deposition method, coating the MWNTs and polymer film as the first and second layers, respectively. The low-power signal-processing chip included array data acquisition circuits and a signal-processing core. The MWNT-polymer microsensor array can directly connect with array data acquisition circuits, which comprise sensor interface circuitry and an analog-to-digital converter; the signal-processing core consists of memory and a microprocessor. The core executes the program, classifying the odor data received from the array data acquisition circuits. The low-power signal-processing chip was designed and fabricated using the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company 0.18-μm 1P6M standard complementary metal oxide semiconductor process. The chip consumes only 1.05 mW of power at supply voltages of 1 and 1.8 V for the array data acquisition circuits and the signal-processing core, respectively. The miniature e-nose system, which used a microsensor array, a low-power signal-processing chip, and an embedded k-nearest-neighbor-based pattern recognition algorithm, was developed as a prototype that successfully recognized the complex odors of tincture, sorghum wine, sake, whisky, and vodka.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Algorithms
  • Electronic Nose*
  • Equipment Design
  • Nanotubes, Carbon / chemistry*
  • Odorants / analysis*
  • Polymers / chemistry
  • Semiconductors
  • Software
  • Wine / analysis*

Substances

  • Nanotubes, Carbon
  • Polymers