AVS 51st International Symposium
    Thin Films Friday Sessions
       Session TF-FrM

Paper TF-FrM11
III Nitride-Based Optical Sensors Integrated with a TOF Mass Spectrometer for Aerosol Characterization.

Friday, November 19, 2004, 11:40 am, Room 303C

Session: In-Situ/Ex-Situ & Real-Time Monitoring
Presenter: C. Joseph, University of Houston
Authors: D. Starikov, Integrated Micro Sensors Inc.
N. Medelci, Integrated Micro Sensors Inc.
R. Pillai, Integrated Micro Sensors Inc.
A. Bensaoula, University of Houston
C. Joseph, University of Houston
Z. Mouffak, University of Houston
Correspondent: Click to Email
Mass spectrometry is currently an essential aerosol characterization tool. For many important biochemical and biomedical applications it would be beneficial to perform optical characterization of the aerosol prior to mass spectrometry. Such characterization would include particle detection, evaluation of the particle size, shape, velocity, etc. Rugged multifunctional multi-wavelength solid-state optical sensors fabricated from III nitride based components have a miniature size and demonstrated high performance in detecting various important compounds. In this work integration of our miniature solid-state optical sensors based on III nitrides with a compact Time-of-Flight (TOF) mass spectrometer has been attempted. The sensors were tested ex situ by fluorescence, absorption, and scattering measurements performed on solutions of fluorescein, rhodamine, erythrosine, chlorophyll, pyrene, anthracene, alexa fluor, and red fluorescing microsphere fluorochromes. These measurements indicated that some of the compounds can be detected with a sensitivity as low as 4-5 ppm in a wide range of concentrations. After integration with an ORTOF mass spectrometer (Ionwerks Inc.), the sensors will be tested for detection and characterization of fluorescing and non-fluorescing aerosols. The sensitivity, dynamic, range, detection limits will be evaluated for various aerosol analytes.