Microelectronic Gas sensors for Non-invasive Analysis of Exhaled Gases

Abstract

Interest in the research of small-sized gas sensors (especially semiconductor) for medical applications has sharply increased in recent years. Requirements for to such sensors are their high sensitivity, performance and stability to very low concentrations of gases, mainly exhaled by a living organism. Today the doctor not only polls, and examines the patient but also sends it to the lab-tests of blood, urine, perform an electrocardiogram, etc. But, for example, today’s periodic monitoring of glucose concentrations in the blood induces acute pain, risk of virus (e.g., hepatitis B) infection from needles, and other difficulties in frequent monitoring. Even in 1784, Antoine Lavoisier wrote that of all the phenomena of life, none is more striking and worthier for physicists and physiologists than phenomena accompanying the breath. Meanwhile, one of the most important directions of modern medicine is non-invasive diagnostics of the patient, based on the analysis of exhaled air in a special device.