A THIN SOLID FILM ELECTROCHEMICAL OXYGEN PARTIAL PRESSURE SENSOR FOR CONTROL OF LOW VACUUM INERT GAS PROCESSES

"INTELLIGENT" CONTROL OF PROCESS PARAMETERS IS AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT FOR HIGH QUALITY, HIGH YIELD, LOW COST MANUFACTURE OF ADVANCED MATERIALS AND COMPONENTS FOR USE IN THE AEROSPACE, ELECTRONICS, BIOMEDICAL, ENERGY, AND AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRIES. ONE NEW CONCEPT WITH TECHNOLOGICAL AND COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL IS THE JET VAPOR DEPOSITION (JVD) PROCESS, WHICH, LIKE OTHER IMPORTANT ADVANCED PROCESS TECHNOLOGIES, USES A LOW VACUUM, INERT GAS ENVIRONMENT. CONTROL OF PROCESS PURITY, ESPECIALLY PREVENTION OF OXYGEN CONTAMINATION, IS INTEGRAL TO RELIABLE, QUALITY MANUFACTURING IN JVD AND OTHER LOW VACUUM PROCESSES. A NEED EXISTS FOR IMPROVED LOW COST SENSORS TO MONITOR LOW VACUUM PROCESS PURITY. THIS PROJECT IS DEVELOPING AN INNOVATIVE, THIN SOLID FILM, ELECTROCHEMICAL OXYGEN PARTIAL PRESSURE SENSOR DESIGNED TO MONITOR AND VERIFY LOW VACUUM INERT GAS PROCESS PURITY. IN PHASE I, THE JVD PROCESS IS BEING USED TO DEPOSIT THE KEY THIN SOLID FILM ELECTROLYTE AND ELECTRODE LAYERS ON A GAS-POROUS ELECTRODE (SUBSTRATE). THIS STRUCTURE IS BEING USED AS THE BASIS FOR CONSTRUCTING A COMPLETE PROTOTYPE OXYGEN SENSOR, INCLUDING TUBULATION, ELECTRICAL CONNECTIONS, AND RELATED INSTRUMENTATION. THE PROTOTYPE SENSOR WILL BE TESTED AND CALIBRATED IN LOW VACUUM, USING GAS MIXTURES WITH KNOWN OXYGEN CONTENT MEASURED BY A MASS SPECTROMETER.