SURFACE ACOUSTIC WAVE (SAW) GAS MICROSENSOR FOR SO2

WITHOUT THE PROPER TOOLS TO CONTINUOUSLY AND ADEQUATELY MONITOR OUR GLOBAL AIR QUALITY, THE CAUSE AND EFFECT RELATIONSHIPS WHICH INTERPLAY TO RESULT IN ENVIRONMENTAL CRISES SUCH AS "ACID RAIN" AND OZONE DEPLETION CAN NOT BE UNDERSTOOD WELL ENOUGH TO DEAL QUICKLY AND CONSTRUCTIVELY WITH THEM. THEREFORE ENVIRONMENTALLY IMPORTANT GASES INCLUDING SO2,NO2,HNO2,CH1,CO2,CO MUST BE MONITORED CONTINUOUSLY USING MULTI-STATION DETECTORS WHICH CAN BE LOCATED NATION-WIDE AND WORLD-WIDE. BIODE PROPOSES TO DEVELOP A NEW GENERATION OF GAS SENSING MONITORS POSSESSING TWO CHARACTERISTICS HERETOFORE UNAVAILABLE; SUPERIOR SENSITIVITY VIA SURFACE ACOUSTIC WAVE (SAW) TECHNOLOGY AND MULTI-COMPONENT (GAS) CAPABILITY VIA NOVEL SENSOR SELECTIVITY PHASE I RESEARCH WILL FOCUS ON EVALUATING TWO NOVEL APPROACHES TO ACHIEVING SENSOR SELECTIVITY EMPLOYING SO2 AS THE MODEL GAS. BOTH APPROACHES WILL BE BASED ON SAW TECHNOLOGY THEREBY GAINING POTENTIAL SENSITIVITIES FAR BEYOND THE BULK ACOUSTIC WAVE (BAW) AND TAGUCHI SENSOR TECHNOLOGIES. PHASE II WILL BE DEVOTED TO REFINING THIS NEW GENERATION OF DETECTORS FOR THOSE OTHER GASES OF CONCERN AND FINALLY CONSTRUCTING THE PROTOTYPE INSTRUMENT INCLUDING IC DATA HANDLING FOR THE MULTI-COMPONENT ANALYSIS.