Context:
Air pollution is a public health issue. Indeed, the latest report of the European Environment Agency (EEA) published by the end of 2019, underlines that most people living in European
cities are exposed to poor air quality and that the concentrations of pollutants and fine particles such as nitrogen oxides (NOx), volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and ozone (O3), continue to have significant impact on the state of health of European citizens , which inevitably leads to certain chronic pathologies such as cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, etc. Environmental monitoring therefore requires the measurement of these different species of gases and particles by a set of specific and selective sensors. Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) are very interesting devices for detection that are fast, efficient and a low-cost solution. These detection devices have undergone quite remarkable development in recent years thanks to the demands for control in various fields such as the environment, health, public and industrial safety. The study of these devices, within the framework of our project, is particularly interesting because it aims to resolve a technological problem which consists in finding a way to develop a multi-sensors platform allowing the discrimination of several types of gas at the same time and this thanks to the use of Bottom-Up integration method of molecules by electro-polymerization method.
Project Description:
The aim of the proposed thesis is to study the electrical characteristics of organic surface acoustic wave (SAW) sensors. The student will participate in the establishment of a measurement bench allowing the frequency characterization of these sensors using a vector network analyzer (VNA). The objective is to study the behavior of these sensors following an external excitation (exposure to gases), the trainee will be particularly interested in the study of the parameters S, S12 of transmission and S11 of reflection. This information is necessary to optimize the manufacture of these devices, in particular when the sensors are functionalized.
Electronic Circuits Design for Instant Detection of Chemical Environments
-
required skills:
-
Electronic Design (Digital and Analog), Hydraulic Control (Actuator / Pressure Sensor), Prototyping / Electrical Tests (Eagle or other design tools), Computer Programming (Python or other if more suited to the mission) and Microcontroller (Arduino or other if more suited to the mission), Analysis of Data (PCA, SVD, ANN).
