Chemical detection features

Chapter 4 deals with several physical and chemical processes featuring various types of active particles to be detected by semiconductor sensors. The most important of them are recombination of atoms and radicals, pyrolysis of simple molecules on hot filaments, photolysis in gaseous phase and in absorbed layer as well as separate stages of several catalytic heterogeneous processes developing on oxides. In this case semiconductor adsorbents play a two-fold role they are acting botii as catalysts and as sensitive elements, i.e. sensors in respect to intermediate active particles appearing on the surface of catalyst in the course of development of catal rtic process. 

A great feature of the proposed configuration is the possibility to select the overlay thickness and mode order to meet specific requirements in terms of sensitivity and response time. In addition, with commercially available and low cost spectrometers, a wavelength shift resolution of 0.05 nm is easily available, allowing sub-ppm chemical detection. 

Cattrall [4] has defined a chemical sensor as a device, which responds to a particular analyte in a selective way by means of a reversible chemical interaction and can be used for the quantitative or qualitative determination of the analyte. This involves the transduction of chemical and/or physical properties at an interface into usable information [5]. The two main features are the transducer, which converts chemical information into an electrical signal, and the interface, which allows selectivity and/ or sensitivity to the chemical detection process (Figure 6.1). 

The appeal of chemiluminescence for chemical detection in microfluidic devices arises from the following features ... 

The sensory reception and response systems of organisms, like their other features, are shaped by selection forces and are thus tuned to meet the pressures of the ancestral environment. Chemical detection systems are found in very primitive life forms including bacteria, protozoans and coelenterates (11, 12, 13. lA). These species respond to a variety of stimuli including some of those identified by humans as having one of the presumed (15) four basic tastes (sweet, salty, sour and bitter). It is striking that similar classes of substances are behaviorally active and that certain types of compounds elicit rather similar responses cross-phyletically. 

Figure Bl.22.11. Near-field scanning optical microscopy fluorescence image of oxazine molecules dispersed on a PMMA film surface. Each protuberance in this three-dimensional plot corresponds to the detection of a single molecule, the different intensities of those features being due to different orientations of the molecules. Sub-diffraction resolution, in this case on the order of a fraction of a micron, can be achieved by the near-field scaiming arrangement. Spectroscopic characterization of each molecule is also possible. (Reprinted with pennission from [82]. Copyright 1996 American Chemical Society.)...

Laser ionization mass spectrometry or laser microprobing (LIMS) is a microanalyt-ical technique used to rapidly characterize the elemental and, sometimes, molecular composition of materials. It is based on the ability of short high-power laser pulses (-10 ns) to produce ions from solids. The ions formed in these brief pulses are analyzed using a time-of-flight mass spectrometer. The quasi-simultaneous collection of all ion masses allows the survey analysis of unknown materials. The main applications of LIMS are in failure analysis, where chemical differences between a contaminated sample and a control need to be rapidly assessed. The ability to focus the laser beam to a diameter of approximately 1 mm permits the application of this technique to the characterization of small features, for example, in integrated circuits. The LIMS detection limits for many elements are close to 10 at/cm, which makes this technique considerably more sensitive than other survey microan-alytical techniques, such as Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES) or Electron Probe Microanalysis (EPMA). Additionally, LIMS can be used to analyze insulating sam-... 

Thus, the mean temperature of the atmosphere, which is about 20°C at sea level, falls steadily to about —55° at an altitude of 10 km and then rises to almost 0°C at 50 km before dropping steadily again to about —90° at 90 km. Concern was expressed in 1974 that interaction of ozone with man-made chlorofluorocarbons would deplete the equilibrium concentration of ozone with potentially disastrous consequences, and this was dramatically confirmed by the discovery of a seasonally recurring ozone hole above Antarctica in 1985. A less prominent ozone hole was subsequently detected above the Arctic Ocean. The detailed physical and chemical conditions required to generate these large seasonal depletions of ozone are extremely complex but the main features have now been elucidated (see p. 848). Several accounts of various aspects of the emerging story, and of the consequent international governmental actions to... 

Sensors of the future will be incredibly small and capable. Many will feature a chemical laboratory and a computer on a chip. They will enable chemical engineers to detect chemical compositions inside hostile process enviromnents and revolutionize their ability to control processes. 

Such techniques imply analysis of chemical products of photolysis. Application of mass-spectrometers of various types is often hampered by a number of circumstances. These difficulties will be discussed later on. The EPR method, which is currently the most extensively employed technique, features low sensitivity and is usually used for analysis of primary fragments of photolysis. For this purpose, the radicals produced are frozen on the walls of a quartz pin and are thus accumulated inside the device. On one hand, this approach allows one to overcome the sensitivity threshold of the device. However, on the other hand, this excludes the possibility of direct kinetic measurements. The SS technique permits the use of weak light sources for detecting active particles under... 

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