New silicon-based micro-electro-mechanical systems for photo-acoustic trace-gas detection

IF 7.1 1区医学 Q1 ENGINEERING, BIOMEDICAL

Photoacoustics Pub Date : 2024-05-21 DOI:10.1016/j.pacs.2024.100619

Jacopo Pelini , Stefano Dello Russo , Inaki Lopez Garcia , Maria Concetta Canino , Alberto Roncaglia , Pablo Cancio Pastor , Iacopo Galli , Wei Ren , Paolo De Natale , Zhen Wang , Simone Borri , Mario Siciliani de Cumis

{"title":"New silicon-based micro-electro-mechanical systems for photo-acoustic trace-gas detection","authors":"Jacopo Pelini , Stefano Dello Russo , Inaki Lopez Garcia , Maria Concetta Canino , Alberto Roncaglia , Pablo Cancio Pastor , Iacopo Galli , Wei Ren , Paolo De Natale , Zhen Wang , Simone Borri , Mario Siciliani de Cumis","doi":"10.1016/j.pacs.2024.100619","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The achievable sensitivity level of photo-acoustic trace-gas sensors essentially depends on the performances of the acoustic transducer. In this work, the mechanical response of different silicon-based micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) is characterized, aiming at investigating both their mechanical properties, namely the resonance frequency and the quality factor, and the minimum detection limit (MDL) achievable when they are exploited as an acoustic-to-voltage transducer in a trace-gas photoacoustic setup. For this purpose, a 4.56µm Continuous-Wave (CW) quantum cascade laser (QCL) is used to excite a strong N<sub>2</sub>O roto-vibrational transition with a line strength of 2.14 × 10<sup>−19</sup> cm/molecule, and the detection of MEMS oscillations is performed via an interferometric readout. As a general trend, the minimum detection limit decreases when the resonance frequency investigated increases, achieving a value of 15 parts per billion with a 3 dB cut-off lock-in bandwidth equal to 100 mHz, around 10 kHz.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":56025,"journal":{"name":"Photoacoustics","volume":"38 ","pages":"Article 100619"},"PeriodicalIF":7.1000,"publicationDate":"2024-05-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213597924000363/pdfft?md5=f2c854d090400b3ebe07a9d4c8ffdc34&pid=1-s2.0-S2213597924000363-main.pdf","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Photoacoustics","FirstCategoryId":"5","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213597924000363","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ENGINEERING, BIOMEDICAL","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

The achievable sensitivity level of photo-acoustic trace-gas sensors essentially depends on the performances of the acoustic transducer. In this work, the mechanical response of different silicon-based micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) is characterized, aiming at investigating both their mechanical properties, namely the resonance frequency and the quality factor, and the minimum detection limit (MDL) achievable when they are exploited as an acoustic-to-voltage transducer in a trace-gas photoacoustic setup. For this purpose, a 4.56 µm Continuous-Wave (CW) quantum cascade laser (QCL) is used to excite a strong N₂O roto-vibrational transition with a line strength of 2.14 × 10⁻¹⁹ cm/molecule, and the detection of MEMS oscillations is performed via an interferometric readout. As a general trend, the minimum detection limit decreases when the resonance frequency investigated increases, achieving a value of 15 parts per billion with a 3 dB cut-off lock-in bandwidth equal to 100 mHz, around 10 kHz.

查看原文本刊更多论文

用于光声痕量气体探测的新型硅基微机电系统

光声痕量气体传感器的灵敏度主要取决于声换能器的性能。在这项工作中，对不同硅基微机电系统（MEMS）的机械响应进行了表征，旨在研究它们的机械特性（即共振频率和品质因数），以及在痕量气体光声装置中将它们用作声压换能器时可达到的最低检测限（MDL）。为此，我们使用了 4.56 µm 连续波（CW）量子级联激光器（QCL）来激发线强度为 2.14 × 10-19 厘米/分子的强 N2O 振荡转变，并通过干涉读数对 MEMS 振荡进行检测。总的趋势是，当所研究的共振频率增加时，最低检测限也随之降低，在 3 dB 截止锁定带宽等于 100 mHz 时，最低检测限为十亿分之十五，约为 10 kHz。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Photoacoustics Physics and Astronomy-Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics

CiteScore

11.40

自引率

16.50%

发文量

审稿时长

53 days

期刊介绍： The open access Photoacoustics journal (PACS) aims to publish original research and review contributions in the field of photoacoustics-optoacoustics-thermoacoustics. This field utilizes acoustical and ultrasonic phenomena excited by electromagnetic radiation for the detection, visualization, and characterization of various materials and biological tissues, including living organisms. Recent advancements in laser technologies, ultrasound detection approaches, inverse theory, and fast reconstruction algorithms have greatly supported the rapid progress in this field. The unique contrast provided by molecular absorption in photoacoustic-optoacoustic-thermoacoustic methods has allowed for addressing unmet biological and medical needs such as pre-clinical research, clinical imaging of vasculature, tissue and disease physiology, drug efficacy, surgery guidance, and therapy monitoring. Applications of this field encompass a wide range of medical imaging and sensing applications, including cancer, vascular diseases, brain neurophysiology, ophthalmology, and diabetes. Moreover, photoacoustics-optoacoustics-thermoacoustics is a multidisciplinary field, with contributions from chemistry and nanotechnology, where novel materials such as biodegradable nanoparticles, organic dyes, targeted agents, theranostic probes, and genetically expressed markers are being actively developed. These advanced materials have significantly improved the signal-to-noise ratio and tissue contrast in photoacoustic methods.