Harsh Environment Gas Composition Sensor Using Novel SiC Resonant MEMS

Future power generation systems including advanced combustion, coal gasification, fuel cells, and biodiesel fuels will require real-time measurement of both constituent gas components and contaminants so that these systems can operate both cost-effectively and with minimal levels of harmful emissions. However, the extreme temperatures, pressures, and corrosive environments in which these sensors need to operate have been a serious impediment to their development and commercialization. Boston MicroSystems has previously developed and demonstrated microresonator-based chemical detectors manufactured from silicon carbide, aluminum nitride and refractory platinum electrodes, which can detect a wide range of chemical in complex and varying backgrounds. More recently it was shown that these sensors could function at the elevated temperatures (>500