PROJECT BG05M2OP001-1.001-0008 | NATIONAL CENTER OF MECHATRONICS AND CLEAN TECHNOLOGIES

Head: Prof. DSc. A. Paskaleva

e-mail: paskaleva@issp.bas.bg

tel: +359 2 979 57 42

The laboratory conducts electrical investigations of chemical gas sensors under various conditions simulating real environment as humidity, temperature and gas concentration.  Potential partners and clients are research groups, national or from abroad, with similar research activities, as well as companies working in the field of gas sensors.

ACTIVITIES

The laboratory conducts electrical investigations on various resistive thin film and bulk structures for application in gas sensors as follows:

  • Measurements of the resistivity of structures and materials in dependence on environment parameters: humidity, temperature, gas composition and concentration;
  • Testing and calibration of sensor devices;
  • Development and optimization of thin films and bulk structures based on oxide and chalcogenide semiconducting and dielectric materials;

SERVICES

  • Scientific investigations for identification of sensor properties in different materials;
  • Calibration and testing of sensor devices.

EQUIPMENT

Gas sensor testing system Kenosistec KGAS4S, simulating real environment in a small volume. The system allows measurements of the resistivity change of up to two samples simultaneously in response to the change of parameters of the simulated environment.

The system is equipped with 6 gas lines for feeding different gases into the measurement chamber under controlled humidity in the range of 10÷90 %. The gas concentration can be varied in the range of 1 to 5000 ppm. Currently the laboratory operates with CO2, NO2, NH3 gases.

The measurement setup can accept up to 4 sensor devices, two of which can be tested at the same time, and the access to the other pair is done by a simple cable readjustment without opening the chamber. The test can be performed at temperatures from room to 400 оС with accuracy of ±2оС.

The measurement chamber construction allows applying of additional optical stimulation of the samples with visible and UV light (315÷700 nm spectral range).

The measurement chamber could be evacuated to pressures down to 10-5 mbar.

The electrical measurements are conducted by means of two Keithley 6487/E source measurement units (SMU) at dc voltage of up to 500V and in 10-12 A current range.

The measurement setup can also accept unbonded/unpackaged samples.

Climate box with the measurement chamber

Measurement chamber with the sample mounting chuck

NEWS