Table of contents

Dissimilar metal arrays with micron/nano gap detect water droplet and agglomerated molecules between them by galvanic action. At 100% in relative humidity (RH), dew condensation occurs on solid surface. The purpose of this study was to clarify the detection behaviour of the above-mentioned galvanic arrays around 100%RH and simultaneous measurement of galvanic current and observation of arrays and gap surface were carried out. Research results showed that the response current depended on RH owing to equilibrium of water molecules between vapor and adsorbed state on the sensor surface when RH increases up to 100%. At 100%RH, current showed steady value determined by balance between condensation of liquid water and evaporation of vapor. Once liquid water was formed on the sensor surface over 100%RH, the response current depended on the size of water determined kinetically. This dependence was observed during the decreasing process of the relative humidity over 100% and even under 100%.

In the last decade, significant advances have facilitated the deployment of sensors. This paper defines the utility of a sensor as the ability of the system to provide intelligence. This comes from collecting data, extracting information (e.g. from data analytics) and interpreting that information into actionable intelligence. Many analytics tools are available, even off-the-shelf, which include machine learning, artificial intelligence, and even sets of toolboxes in MatLab that have changed the way information and intelligence can be extracted and realized. Therefore, care must be taken to obtain correct information. This paper discusses the system strategy for data analytics and examples of intelligence extracted specifically from an application perspective. To illustrate, we introduce SensorComm's emission monitoring solution, Wi-NOx™. The system was developed to monitor emissions from vehicles, and more recently modified to monitor individuals remotely for healthcare applications, and now to monitor natural gas for oil & gas applications.

Occurrence of dew condensation depends on the surface temperature of the target. In order to adjust the temperature of the senor surface to that of the target, the temperature changing rate of the sensor surface was controlled by simply attaching heat sink to the backside of the sensor chip and by introducing thermal insulation around the backside of the sensor chip in this study. Experimental results demonstrated that the temperature change of the sensor surface was successfully relaxed against that of environment around the sensor surface and that the galvanic arrays with the micro/nano gaps on the sensor chip detected occurrence of dew condensation even under 100% in the relative humidity of environment. It is expected that the surface status of this sensor could be made closer to the target on application such as dew condensation detection.

An enhancement in the detection sensitivity of microgalvanic cell termed as moisture sensor has been reported. It can detect condensed water, predict dew condensation and distinguish water droplet size with high accuracy and high speed by measuring galvanic current generated when a water droplet bridges Au and Al used as electrodes. Electrode reaction involved in a cell has been identified as cathodic O₂ reduction. Coating the cathode, Au with a thin layer of Pt enhanced the cathodic reaction occurring at Pt/Au. SEM images of the surface of Pt coated Au confirmed an increase in homogenous coating of smaller Pt particles, with an increase in the thickness of Pt. This increased the active sites for the cathodic reaction, increasing the output current from the moisture sensor thus enhancing the sensitivity of a sensor.

Herein, the construction of a novel, low-cost and disposable electrochemical sensor is presented by using recyclable material as an alternative with bucky paper (BP) as an electrode material. The polyethyleneterephthalate (PET) obtained from a drinking bottle was used as sensing platform. The CO₂ laser were used for producing sensing substrate and the desired three electrode pattern of BP. This was attached on the PET substrate using double side tape. The lamination process was used to define the geometric area and for insulating the electrode. The determination of Xanthine (Xn) and Uric Acid (UA) were carried out as a proof of concept with unmodified BP surface. The electrochemical behaviour of Xn and UA were studied using cyclic voltammetry (CV), differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). The anodic peak for Xn and UA were observed at 0.4 V and 0.2 V respectively. The calibration curve for Xn and UA were obtained in the linear range 10 µM -500 µM and 50 µM - 1000 µM respectively. The LOD obtained for Xn and UA was 6 µM and 22.5 µM respectively. Finally, the proposed method was applied for determination of Xn and UA in human serum sample with good selectivity and high sensitivity.

Mechanoluminescence (ML) material starts receiving attention as two-dimensionally visualizing physical phenomena such as strain, stress, or load. This paper focused on the synthesis of ML materials with multi-elements using an organic acid-aided method and the optical properties of ML materials such as SrAl₂O₄ doped with Eu²⁺, Eu²⁺+Cr³⁺, Eu²⁺+Nd³⁺, or Eu²⁺+Cr³⁺+Nd³⁺ ions, which emit multi-wavelength luminescence including visible, NIR, and SWIR ranges. From the characterizations of the synthesized materials, we conclude that the organic acid-aided method can synthesize even the complex ML material including multi-elements. Moreover, The SrAl₂O₄ doped with Eu²⁺, Cr³⁺, and Nd³⁺ ions showed the highest ML intensity in the wavelength range of 750 – 1000 nm compared to the other synthesized ML materials, although there was almost no difference in the crystal structure and particle morphology.

The technology of FinFET has led to the continuity of device scaling and enabled the prolongation of Moore's Law towards the 7nm and beyond nodes. The gate cut last scheme will be widely adopted since it can provide better SiP/SiGe growth environment, improve yield and enhance electrical performance. Moving the gate cut to dummy poly gate removal is one of the solutions. However, this approach suffer smaller process window, and it is difficult to balance head to head bridge and work function metal (WFM) line end residence. This scheme requires that the gate cut process should be carefully designed and strictly controlled to achieve the purpose of not loss the yield.This paper mainly introduces several common defects of gate cut last scheme, and analyzes the root causes and characteristics. At last, the reasonable solution on gate cut last process are given.