Compact and/or MEMS-based gas-sampling sensors for analysis of battery offgassing

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I SBIR project will prototype a MEMS-based gas sensor. The MEMS-based gas sensor uses a microfabricated photonic crystal to emit infrared light in a specific portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. The wavelength can be tuned by design to overlap an absorption band of methane, for example, to make a very small, very sensitive, very efficient detector of methane or other target gas. The MEMS-based approach also includes a microfabricated anti-reflective structure(SWARS), which uses microfabricated sub-wavelength features to reduce the effective index of refraction of the wafer material. The SWARS structure forms the lid which encapsulates the MEMS photonic crystal.