Low-Power pH Sensor Based on Narrow Channel Open-Gated Al<sub>0.25</sub>Ga<sub>0.75</sub>N/GaN HEMT and Package Integrated Polydimethylsiloxane Microchannels

pH sensors with low-power and strong anti-interference are extremely important for industrial online real-time detection. Herein, a narrow channel pH sensor based on Al<sub>0.25</sub>Ga<sub>0.75</sub>N/GaN high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) with package integrated Polyd...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Xianghong Yang, Jiapei Ao, Sichen Wu, Shenhui Ma, Xin Li, Long Hu, Weihua Liu, Chuanyu Han
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2020-11-01
Series:Materials
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1944/13/22/5282
Description
Summary:pH sensors with low-power and strong anti-interference are extremely important for industrial online real-time detection. Herein, a narrow channel pH sensor based on Al<sub>0.25</sub>Ga<sub>0.75</sub>N/GaN high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) with package integrated Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microchannels is proposed. The fabricated device has shown potential advantages in improving stability and reducing power consumption in response to pH changes of the solution. The performance of the pH sensor was demonstrated where the preliminary results showed an ultra-low power (<5.0 μW) at <i>V</i><sub>DS</sub> = 1.0 V. Meanwhile, the sensitivity was 0.06 μA/V·pH in the range of pH = 2 to pH = 10, and the resolution of the sensor was 0.1 pH. The improvement in performance of the proposed sensor can be related to the narrow channel and microchannel, which can be attributed to better surface Ga<sub>x</sub>O<sub>y</sub> in a microchannel with larger H<sup>+</sup> and HO<sup>−</sup> concentration on the sensing surface during the detection process. The low-power sensor with excellent stability can be widely used in various unattended or harsh environments, and it is more conducive to integration and intelligence, which lays the foundation for online monitoring in vivo.
ISSN:1996-1944