Ultra miniaturized InterDigitated electrodes platform for sensing applications

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Z. Wang, et al., "Ultra miniaturized InterDigitated electrodes platform for sensing applications." Microelectronic Engineering 225, 2020, 111253.

InterDigitated Electrodes (IDEs) is a generic platform for a wide range of diverse applications with their implementation in sensing modules being a major one. We propose the use of IDCs with deep sub-micron critical dimension; equally spaced electrodes of 200 nm width for enhanced sensing performance and also the method of fabrication thereof. The transducer configuration was studied theoretically with a finite element method simulation by using COMSOL Multiphysics. The miniaturization of the IDEs up to 200 nm critical dimension with an adequate sensing area for the deposition of the polymeric materials is considered beneficial in terms of sensitivity gain. The IDCs were designed to deliver capacitance values of few pF in order to be compatible with already developed miniaturized low-power readout electronics. The transducers fabrication is performed with conventional microelectronic/micromachining processing and then coated with several semi-selective polymeric films. Besides the fabrication of multiple sensor arrays (chips) on the same silicon wafer, the miniaturization offers the integration with the readout electronics on the same chip. The evaluation of the sensing performance of the semi-selective polymer coated sensors is performed upon exposure to vapours of pure and binary mixtures of VOCs and humidity in various concentrations. The sensors demonstrate high sensitivity to the examined analytes as a result of the miniaturization, while their semi-selectivity is a key for applications in complex vapour environment discrimination.