A review of piezoelectric MEMS sensors and actuators for gas detection application

Saeed S Ba Hashwan; Mohd Haris Md Khir; Illani Mohd Nawi; Mohamad Radzi Ahmad; Mehwish Hanif; Furqan Zahoor; Y Al-Douri; Abdullah Saleh Algamili; Usman Isyaku Bature; Sami Sultan Alabsi; Mohammed O Ba Sabbea; Muhammad Junaid

doi:10.1186/s11671-023-03779-8

A review of piezoelectric MEMS sensors and actuators for gas detection application

Discov Nano. 2023 Feb 27;18(1):25. doi: 10.1186/s11671-023-03779-8.

Affiliations

¹ Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, 32610, Seri Iskandar, Malaysia. saeedsb2013@gmail.com.
² Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, 32610, Seri Iskandar, Malaysia.
³ Nanotechnology and Catalysis Research Centre (NANOCAT), University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
⁴ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Piri Reis University, Eflatun Sk. No: 8, 34940, Tuzla, Istanbul, Turkey.
⁵ Department of Applied Science and Astronomy, College of Sciences, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.
⁶ Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, N2L 3G1, Canada.
⁷ Department of Electronic Engineering, Balochistan University of Information Technology, Engineering and Management Sciences, Quetta, 87300, Pakistan.

Abstract

Piezoelectric microelectromechanical system (piezo-MEMS)-based mass sensors including the piezoelectric microcantilevers, surface acoustic waves (SAW), quartz crystal microbalance (QCM), piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer (PMUT), and film bulk acoustic wave resonators (FBAR) are highlighted as suitable candidates for highly sensitive gas detection application. This paper presents the piezo-MEMS gas sensors' characteristics such as their miniaturized structure, the capability of integration with readout circuit, and fabrication feasibility using multiuser technologies. The development of the piezoelectric MEMS gas sensors is investigated for the application of low-level concentration gas molecules detection. In this work, the various types of gas sensors based on piezoelectricity are investigated extensively including their operating principle, besides their material parameters as well as the critical design parameters, the device structures, and their sensing materials including the polymers, carbon, metal-organic framework, and graphene.

Keywords: BAW; FBAR; Gas sensors; Microcantilever; Microelectromechanical system (MEMS); PMUT; Piezoelectric actuators; QCM; SAW; Sensing layers; Sensing principle.

Publication types

Review