Supersonic cluster beam deposition as novel tool addressing Nano-On-Micro issue

Supersonic cluster beam deposition was used to integrate nanostructured oxide films onto silicon microstructures (microhotplates and microbridges), for batch production of conductimetric chemical sensors. Devices were characterized respect to oxidizing as well as reducting species, such as NO2, ethanol and hydrogen. Hybrid devices performing on the same micromachined platform either air flow measurement, temperature measurement, and chemical detection were also produced, by integrating the nanomaterials exclusively on the parts dedicated to chemical sensing. This research demonstrates the possibility of direct and high-throughput parallel integration of nanomaterials on micromachined parts and generally MEMS.