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Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical: Hithesh K. Gatty, Simon Leijonmarck, Mikael Antelius, Göran Stemme, Niclas Roxhed

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Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical: Hithesh K. Gatty, Simon Leijonmarck, Mikael Antelius, Göran Stemme, Niclas Roxhed

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© © All Rights Reserved
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Sensors and Actuators B 209 (2015) 639–644

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical


journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/snb

An amperometric nitric oxide sensor with fast response and ppb-level


concentration detection relevant to asthma monitoring
Hithesh K. Gatty a , Simon Leijonmarck b , Mikael Antelius a ,
Göran Stemme a , Niclas Roxhed a,∗
a
Micro and Nanosystems, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden
b
Applied Electrochemistry, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: A MEMS-based amperometric nitric oxide (NO) gas sensor is reported in this paper. The sensor is designed
Received 4 August 2014 to detect NO gas for the purpose of asthma monitoring. The unique property of this sensor lies in the
Received in revised form 31 October 2014 combination of a microporous high-surface area electrode that is coated with NafionTM , together with a
Accepted 4 November 2014
liquid electrolyte. The sensor is able to detect gas concentrations of the order of parts-per-billion (ppb)
Available online 15 December 2014
and has a measured NO sensitivity of 0.045 nA/ppb and an operating range between 25 and 65% relative
humidity. The settling time of the sensor is measured to 8 s. The selectivity to interfering gases such as
Keywords:
ammonia (NH3 ) and carbon monoxide (CO) was high when placing an activated carbon fiber filter above
Nitric oxide
Amperometric
the sensor. The ppb-level detection capability of this sensor combined with its relatively fast response,
NafionTM high selectivity to CO and NH3 makes the sensor potentially applicable in gas monitoring for asthma
MEMS detection.
Gas sensor © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction faster sensor could be realized by fabricating a miniaturized sensor


where diffusion lengths of the gas are inherently shorter.
Asthma is a disease characterized by chronic inflammation in In terms of state of the art of miniaturized and potentially fast
the airways of the lungs. For monitoring inflammation in asthma NO sensors; chemoresistive metal oxide sensors such as SnO2 have
patients, the concentration of nitric oxide (NO) in exhaled breath is been used extensively in the past. However, their detection limit is
used as a biomarker [1–6]. In adults, a concentration above 50 ppb in the range of few ppm, which is not sufficient for monitoring of
typically indicates the presence of an inflammation [7–9]. A mea- asthma [11]. Miniaturized electrochemical sensors, such as amper-
surement system for asthma monitoring is described in [10]. This ometric sensors with a solid polymer electrolyte (SPE) have been
bench top system contains a three-electrode amperometric elec- shown to detect NO [12–14]. However, also for this type of sen-
trochemical NO sensor with a size of a few cm3 . Due to the long sors the limit of detection is not sufficient for application of these
response time of the sensor, of the order of 50 s, the instrument sensors in asthma monitoring.
needs to buffer the exhaled breath sample. The breath sample is first Previously, we have demonstrated a miniaturized electrochem-
temporarily stored in a reservoir within the instrument and then ical NO sensor with a detection limit and sensitivity that is
pumped at a lower flow rate to the gas sensor for the concentration potentially suitable for asthma monitoring [15]. In this paper,
measurement. The inclusion of gas sampling and handling systems we characterize its sensitivity to changes in relative humidity,
to buffer and pump the sample, results in a large overall size of the response time, flow sensitivity and stability. In addition, the sen-
instrument (24 cm × 13 cm × 10 cm). To develop a hand-held mon- sor is characterized for its sensitivity to carbon monoxide (CO) and
itoring device that patients can carry along, the size of the system ammonia (NH3 ), both common gases in exhaled breath [16,17]
needs to be reduced. This could be achieved by having a faster sen- which potentially could interfere with electrochemical sensors.
sor that eliminates the need for buffering of the breath sample. A Typical concentrations of CO and NH3 in exhaled breath are in the
range of 0–8 ppm and 0–1 ppm, respectively.

2. Sensor design
∗ Corresponding author at: Micro and Nanosystems, Osquldas väg 10, SE-100 44
Stockholm, Sweden. Tel.: +46 87909143. The sensor design is based on the principle of amperometric
E-mail address: roxhed@kth.se (N. Roxhed). detection of an NO analyte as illustrated in Fig. 1. The working,

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.snb.2014.11.147
0925-4005/© 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
640 H.K. Gatty et al. / Sensors and Actuators B 209 (2015) 639–644

Fig. 2. 3D illustration of the working electrode die. The illustration shows the grid
pattern where the micropores are etched through the silicon wafer resulting in a
Fig. 1. Conceptual drawing of the three electrode electrochemical sensor showing
high surface area. The inset picture shows a SEM image of the microporous grid.
the nanoporous structure of the NafionTM layer covering the working electrode.

reference and counter electrodes together with the electrolyte con- image in Fig. 2. The foot print diameter of the grid structure is 6 mm
stitute the basic elements of the sensor. The working electrode resulting in a porous electrode foot print area of 0.28 cm2 .
consists of a microporous grid structure etched in silicon. The pores Atomic layer deposition (Beneq TFS 200, Finland) was used to
are arranged in a close packed structure to achieve a high sur- deposit a 10 nm thick electrically insulating and adhesion pro-
face area. These pores are coated with a platinum (Pt) electrode moting layer of Al2 O3 and a 10 nm thick layer of platinum (Pt)
layer and a layer of NafionTM , which acts as a solid polymer elec- for the electrode. The ALD coating technique results in a confor-
trolyte with a nanoporous structure. The utilization of the walls of mal electrode layer over the entire surface of the grid structure,
the pores for the working electrode facilitates the miniaturization including the vertical walls of the micropores, hence achieving an
of the gas sensor. The Platinum–NafionTM combination has been electrode with high surface area. The wafer was then diced into
used as working electrode before, however its non-integrated large 1 cm × 1 cm sized chips. These chips are then individually dipped
size is not suitable for the hand-held application in mind [18–20]. in a 5% NafionTM (SE-5112, Dupont, USA) solution and desiccated
The interaction between the gas, electrode, and electrolyte under in a low pressure chamber for approximately 5 min. The NafionTM
electrical bias leads to the oxidation of NO at the surface of the coated chips were dried for 2 h at room temperature. SEM mea-
working electrode causing a current flow between the working and surements on five chips at five different locations showed that the
the counter electrode. The output current is then measured using a NafionTM layer showed a conformal NafionTM coating with a thick-
potentiostat maintaining a constant voltage of +0.7 V compared to ness of approximately 500 nm. A close up view of the cross-section
the reference electrode. The resulting current through the sensor is of the NafionTM coated grid is shown in Fig. 3. A schematic illustra-
directly proportional to the NO gas concentration. tion of the cross-section of the microporous silicon and the multiple
coatings of Al2 O3 , Pt and NafionTM that formed the working elec-
trode of the sensor is provided in Fig. 4.
3. Experimental

The fabrication and preparation of the sensor are described


below. This includes the fabrication of a microporous silicon chip
with a working electrode and its assembly to a polycarbonate board
with the counter and the reference electrodes. After adding an
electrolyte solution, the sensor was arranged in the measurement
set-up and characterized in terms of sensitivity and stability. For
selectivity measurements an activated carbon fiber (ACF) filter was
added.

3.1. Fabrication process of the working electrode

To fabricate the working electrode, a 6 ␮m thick photoresist (AZ


9260, AZ Electronic materials, USA) was spin coated on a 300 ␮m
thick, 100 mm diameter silicon wafer. It was then soft baked on
a hot plate at 90 ◦ C for 2 min and thereafter exposed to UV light
with energy of 300 mJ/cm2 . The working electrode was photolitho-
graphically defined with a triangular shaped grid pattern, as shown
in Fig. 2. The silicon wafer with the pattern was then etched using
deep reactive ion etching for 1.5 h resulting in a grid of micropore Fig. 3. SEM image showing a close up view of the cross-section of approximately
through holes, as shown in the scanning electron microscope (SEM) 500 nm thick NafionTM coating the grid.
H.K. Gatty et al. / Sensors and Actuators B 209 (2015) 639–644 641

Fig. 4. Schematic illustration of the cross-section of the microporous silicon show-


ing multiple coatings of Al2 O3 , Pt and NafionTM , which form the working electrode
of the sensor.

Fig. 5. Schematic drawing illustrating a cross-section of the NO sensing module con-


3.2. Sensor assembly sisting of the working electrode chip, meandering electrolyte channel, electrolyte
filling port, and the electrolyte chamber. The inset photograph shows the working
To fabricate the counter and the reference electrodes, a 500 nm electrode assembled above the counter and the reference electrode. A spacer was
used to electrically isolate the NafionTM coated working electrode chip from the
thick silver layer was deposited on one side of a 2 mm thick poly-
counter and reference electrodes.
carbonate board using e-beam evaporation. The silver counter and
reference electrode were formed using a milling machine. The poly-
carbonate board was then cut to a size of 70 mm × 50 mm. The connects the electrolyte chamber with a filling port through
reference electrode was further processed by oxidizing the silver which deionized water was added to compensate for the water
electrode to silver oxide (Ag2 O). The oxidation process was car- evaporation through the working electrode.
ried out in the electrolyte solution (5 wt.% H2 SO4 ) by applying 1 V The assembly was then placed in a beaker with the electrolyte
between the reference electrode (anode) and a platinum electrode solution and transferred to a desiccator. The low pressure in the
(cathode) for 2 min. desiccator helps in filling the channels including the electrolyte
To form a space to hold the electrolyte volume, an electrolyte chamber. The inset photograph in Fig. 5 shows the working elec-
chamber with a gap of 500 ␮m was maintained between the trode chip assembled on top of the counter and the reference
working electrode and the counter/reference electrodes by a poly- electrodes. In order to reduce the CO sensitivity an activated car-
carbonate spacer frame, as illustrated in Fig. 5. In addition, the bon fiber (ACF) filter (Aerocrine AB, Sweden) was fixed above the
spacer electrically isolates the NafionTM coated working electrode working electrode for some of the experiments (as illustrated in
from the counter and the reference electrodes. The spacer frame Fig. 6) [21]. The highly porous ACF filter is approximately 2 mm
was fixated using a silicone sealant (silicone sealant 7091, Dow thick and consists of approximately 10 ␮m thick carbon fibers in a
corning, USA) to the polycarbonate board. The working electrode mesh structure with an approximate <50 ␮m pore diameter.
was assembled on top of the spacer using the silicone sealant. The
sensor assembly was then cured in air for approximately 1 h. The 3.3. Measurement set-up and testing
working electrode was electrically contacted to a silver conductor
on the polycarbonate board by a gold wire. The custom-built gas handling system for characterizing the NO
To compensate for the loss of electrolyte by evaporation sensor is illustrated in Fig. 6. Different NO concentrations were
through the microporous working electrode, an arrangement was achieved by using a Y-shaped tube connector for mixing N2 gas
made that ensures a continuous supply of electrolyte solution to (99.95% pure, AGA gas AB, Sweden) with 200 ppb NO in N2 gas (AGA
the electrolyte chamber. The arrangement consists of a 50 mm long gas AB, Sweden). A scrubber (Dräger, Type 1140, Germany) was
and 1 mm deep and wide meandering channel that was milled into used to remove the residues of NOx from the N2 gas. The change in
the backside of the polycarbonate board. The channel was then the concentration was achieved by varying the flow ratio between
sealed by gluing (Loctite 420, USA) a 1 mm thick polycarbonate NO and N2 . A custom made humidifier consisting of a syringe with
sheet of the same size to the polycarbonate board, as illustrated moistened paper was used to humidify the gas mixture. To mea-
in Fig. 5. To avoid glue filling of the channels, the glue was applied sure the sensitivity of the sensor to interfering gases, 45 ppm CO in
by stamping the glue to the polycarbonate board. The channel N2 and 45 ppm NH3 in N2 gas (AGA Gas AB, Sweden) were used. In

Fig. 6. Schematic illustrating the custom built measurement set-up used for characterizing the NO sensing module.
642 H.K. Gatty et al. / Sensors and Actuators B 209 (2015) 639–644

the same way as for the NO gas, these gases were diluted with N2 14
to get desired gas concentrations. C1

Two flow sensors (AWM5102, Honeywell, USA) and two mass 12 C2

flow controllers (F201CV, Bronkhorst EL-flow, NL) were used to C3

measure and control the flow rate and mixing concentrations of C4

Output current, INO (nA)


10 C5
the gases. Two solenoid valves (Atlas Copco, VB-13 ESI) were used
C5 (with filter)
for switching between NO and N2 concentrations. A humidity sen-
8
sor (HIH 4000, Honeywell, USA) measured the humidity of the gas
above the working electrode as illustrated in Fig. 6. The NO sensing
6
module was connected to a potentiostat (DY2011, Digi-ivy, USA)
to measure the output current. Data from the NO sensor, the flow
sensors, and the humidity sensor was recorded using a LabviewTM 4
script. The relative humidity (%RH) around the sensor was held con-
stant to approximately 49%RH for all measurements. The gas flow 2
rate was maintained constant at 600 ml/min for all measurements
except for the response time measurement that was measured at 0
430 ml/min. 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200
NO concentration (ppb)

4. Results and discussion Fig. 8. Sensitivity plot of the NO sensor with and without an activated carbon fiber
filter. Sensors C1 to C4 were tested without filter and sensor C5 was tested both with
The sensor was tested for its NO concentration sensitivity, stabil- and without filter. The sensitivity for each sensor was calculated by fitting a straight
line to the output current from each sensor. The y-axis intercept of the straight lines
ity, selectivity, humidity and flow sensitivities, and response time.
is adjusted to pass through the origin to better illustrate the distribution of the NO
Five sensor dies (C1–C5) were used for characterization. One of the sensitivity for all sensors. The sensitivity of the sensor C5 with filter is illustrated by
sensors (C5) was also characterized with the ACF filter. The work- the (-·-) straight line.
ing electrode was continuously biased with +0.7 V compared to the
reference electrode. The output current is defined as the working from 0 to 200 ppb of NO. Based on these data, a sensitivity of approx-
electrode current minus the background (i.e. zero concentration) imately 0.045 nA/ppb was calculated by averaging the sensitivities
current. To overcome the background current drift, the background for all the sensors. This sensitivity is similar to the sensitivity of the
current is measured at zero NO concentration immediately before NO sensor in [18].
the NO is introduced in the gas flow. This measurement procedure For sensor die C5, the NO sensitivity was also measured after
is compatible with the asthma monitoring application in mind. mounting the filter above the sensor resulting in a sensitivity of
approximately 0.05 nA/ppb. This value lies within the range of
4.1. Stability and NO sensitivity sensitivities measured for the individual sensors without filter as
shown in Fig. 8.
Sensor dies (C1–C4) were used for the output current, (INO )
stability measurements. The output current from the sensors 4.2. Selectivity to CO and NH3
remained stable after 24 h as shown in Fig. 7. The initial decrease
observed in the output current is in accordance with previously Fig. 9 shows the measured output current as a function of CO
reported results of a similar working electrode configuration [22]. concentration with and without the ACF filter. Without filter, the
A higher output current was observed for previously reported tests CO sensitivity was measured to be 6.4 nA/ppm, which is too high for
of the sensor [15]. However, for repeated sensor measurements use in asthma diagnostics. However, with the ACF filter the CO sen-
during a period of 125 h, the output currents from four different sitivity was reduced to 0.98 nA/ppm. The ratio of the sensitivity of
sensors showed a stable value of about 7–9 nA for 200 ppb NO gas. nitric oxide to carbon monoxide was found to be approximately
Fig. 8 shows the mean value of the output current for each sensor 50. To be adequate for asthma monitoring, the ratio should be
during five identical consecutive sweeps in concentration ranging improved to approximately 1000 [17]. However, the measurement
of CO sensitivity with the filter shows substantial improvement.

Fig. 9. Output current of the sensor with and without the activated carbon fiber
Fig. 7. Graph shows the output current for 200 ppb NO gas as a function of time for filter tested for sensor C5. A reduction in CO sensitivity was observed after adding
four sensors (C1–C4). The output current was found to be stable after approximately the filter in the set-up. The sensitivity was calculated by fitting a straight line to the
24 h. output current.
H.K. Gatty et al. / Sensors and Actuators B 209 (2015) 639–644 643

10 0.30 RH 37 %

Output current, INO (nA)


RH 45 %
0.24

in output current (%)


8

Relative change
6 0.18

4 0.12

2 0.06

0 0.00
20 30 40 50 60 70 80 400 500 600 700 800
Relative humidity (% RH) Flow (ml/min)
(a) (b)

Fig. 10. Measurement showing the relative humidity sensitivity (a) and gas flow sensitivity (b) of the sensor C5. The measurements indicate that the output current for
200 ppb NO gas is independent of the relative change in the humidity between 25 and 65%RH and that it is insensitive to N2 gas flow at two different humidities.

Table 1
N2 Flow NO Flow Output current
Sensitivities of NO, CO and NH3 gases with and without activated carbon fiber (ACF) 16
filter.
14

Output current, INO (nA)


Without filter With filter 10 % error
NO sensitivity 0.045 nA/ppb 0.05 nA/ppb 12 band
CO sensitivity 0.0064 nA/ppb 0.00098 nA/ppb
NH3 sensitivity Not measurable Not measurable 10
8
Further improvement can be made by either increasing NO sensi-
6
tivity or by using a thicker filter.
Interference to NH3 was found to be negligible for both with and
Average final
4
without filter. Table 1 provides the sensitivities of the sensor to NO, value
CO and NH3 gases with and without the filter. 2
0
4.3. Sensitivity to humidity and flow Settling time
8s
The NO sensitivity dependency on relative humidity and N2
flow were also measured. As shown in Fig. 10(a), the NO sensi- 0 10 20 30 40 50 60
tivity of the sensor remains constant within 8% between 25 and
Time (s)
65% RH. The sensor did not show a stable output response for the
low humidity region (10–25% RH) and for the high humidity region Fig. 11. Response of the sensor C1 when the NO gas was alternately switched
(65–95%RH). This could be due to local evaporation/condensation between 0 and 200 ppb resulting in a settling time of approximately 8 s. The initial
affecting the NafionTM layer at the working electrode by either dry- disruption in the current was due to the disturbance caused by the switch between
the N2 and NO flow. The settling time was calculated using a 10% error band of the
ing or flooding of the NafionTM layer, resulting in a low/high proton
average final value of the output current.
conduction [23–26]. Exhaled breath humidity is close to 100%RH.
Thus, to enable exhaled breath measurements a hygroscopic tube,
as is common practice, can be used to absorb the excess humidity for asthma monitoring applications, where the NO concentrations
[10]. typically are around 50 ppb.
The relative change in the output current of the sensor for differ- The measured settling time of the sensor without filter is 8 s.
ent flow rates of N2 gas is displayed in the Fig. 10(b). It shows that However the sensor reacts relatively fast, having a time constant
the relative change in the output current is below 0.2%, indicating of approximately 2 s. These values can be put in relation to NO
that the effect of N2 gas flow on the sensor is negligible.

356
4.4. Response time
354 200 ppb
W:E Current, I (nA)

The response time of the sensor to a 200 ppb concentration


352
step of NO gas was determined by measuring the settling time, 100 ppb
as defined in Fig. 11. This resulted in a measured settling time 350
of approximately 8 s. The flow rate used for the response time 348 54 ppb
measurement was 430 ml/min as opposed to 600 ml/min used for 40 ppb
all other measurements. However, the different flow rates had 346
no effect on the response time or on the sensitivity (as shown 344 Settling time
in Fig. 10b). Fig. 12 shows the response of a sensor with an ACF =17 s
filter for different NO concentrations. This gave a settling time of 342
the sensor with the filter of 17 s. The graph shows a background 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400
current drift of 0.33 nA/min, which is equivalent to 9.4 ppb/min Time (s)
in terms of NO concentration drift. This means that for the 17 s of
Fig. 12. The time response of the sensor C5 for four different NO gas concentrations
the measurement time of the response, the drift component of the when a filter was used. The measured settling time of the sensor was approximately
signal amounts to about 3 ppb. This is an acceptable level of drift 17 s.
644 H.K. Gatty et al. / Sensors and Actuators B 209 (2015) 639–644

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Biographies
Acknowledgements
Hithesh K. Gatty received his master of technology degree from NITK, Surathkal,
This work was supported by the Swedish agency VINNOVA, the India in 2004. Currently he is working to his Ph.D in Micro and Nanosystems at KTH
European Research Council (ERC) through the Advanced Grant No: Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden. His research is focused on MEMS based gas
267528 and Aerocrine AB, producer of handheld diagnostic tools sensors for medical applications.

for breath monitoring. Simon Leijonmarck completed his Ph.D. at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in
Stockholm, Sweden, within the field of Chemical Engineering in 2013. The Ph.D.
work covered a broad range of electrochemical devices, with emphasis on lithium
References ion batteries. He is currently employed at Swerea SICOMP AB, a Swedish research
institute. The main focus of his work is on carbon fiber based batteries aimed at
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[2] P. Barnes, NO or no NO in asthma? Thorax 51 (1996) 218–220. University, Uppsala, Sweden, in 2007. After a 1-year stay in the industry, he has been
[3] F.L.M. Ricciardolo, P.J. Sterk, B. Gaston, G. Folkerts, Nitric oxide in health and with the department of Micro- and Nanosystems at the School of Electrical Engi-
disease of the respiratory system, Physiol. Rev. 84 (2004) 731–765. neering, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden, where he defended
[4] A. Malinovschi, Nitric Oxide Exchange in Central and Pheripheral Airways, Upp- his Ph.D. thesis in April 2013. His research interests include silicon photonics and
sala Universitet, 2008. wafer-level vacuum and liquid packaging, particularly with regards to gas sensors.
[5] A.D. Smith, D.R. Taylor, Is exhaled nitric oxide measurement a useful clinical
Göran Stemme received the M.Sc. degree in electrical engineering and the Ph.D.
test in asthma? Curr. Opin. Allergy Clin. Immunol. 5 (2005) 49–56.
degree in solid-state electronics from Chalmers University of Technology, Gothen-
[6] D. Taylor, M. Pijnenburg, A. Smith, J. Jongste, Exhaled nitric oxide measure-
burg, Sweden, in 1982 and 1987, respectively. In 1981 he joined the Department
ments: clinical application and interpretation, Thorax 61 (2006) 817–827.
of Solid State Electronics, Chalmers University of Technology, where he became
[7] R.A. Dweik, P.B. Boggs, S.C. Erzurum, C.G. Irvin, M.W. Leigh, J.O. Lundberg, et al.,
an Associate Professor (docent) heading the silicon sensor research group in 1990.
An official ATS clinical practice guideline: interpretation of exhaled nitric oxide
Since 1991, he has been a professor at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm,
levels (FENO) for clinical applications, Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med. 184 (2012).
Sweden, where he heads department of Micro- and Nanosystems in the School of
[8] J.M. Spergel, M.I. Fogg, A. Bokszczanin-Knosala, Correlation of exhaled nitric
Electrical Engineering. His research is devoted to microsystem technology based on
oxide, spirometry and asthma symptoms, J. Asthma 42 (2005) 879–883.
micromachining of silicon. He has more than 300 research journal and conference
[9] ATS Documents, ATS/ERS recommendations for standardized procedures for
papers and has more than 22 patent proposals or granted patents. Dr. Stemme is a
the online and offline measurement of exhaled lower respiratory nitric oxide
member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (KVA).
and nasal nitric oxide, Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med. (2005) 912.
[10] T. Hemmingsson, D. Linnarsson, R. Gambert, Novel hand-held device for Niclas Roxhed was born in Stockholm, Sweden 1978. He received the M.Sc. degree
exhaled nitric oxide-analysis in research and clinical applications, J. Clin. Monit. in electrical engineering and the Ph.D. degree in microsystem technology from
Comput. 18 (2004) 379–387. KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, in 2003 and 2007, respectively. He
[11] G. Eranna, B. Joshi, D. Runthala, R. Gupta, Oxide materials for development of is currently an Associate Professor and a team leader of medical MEMS with the
integrated gas sensors—a comprehensive review, Crit. Rev. Solid State Mater. department of Micro- and Nanosystems, School of Electrical Engineering, KTH Royal
Sci. 29 (2004) 111–188. Institute of Technology. His main research fields are sensors for medical diagnos-
[12] F. Opekar, K. Štulıı́k, Electrochemical sensors with solid polymer electrolytes, tics and medical-aid Microsystems. He is also involved in high-precision etching
Anal. Chim. Acta 385 (1999) 151–162. using DRIE for RF-MEMS switches and 3-D integration of MEMS on ICs for infrared
[13] F. Maseeh, M.J. Tierney, W.S. Chu, J. Joseph, H.-O. Kim, T. Otagawa, A novel imagers. He has authored or coauthored more than 50 scientific papers.
silicon micro amperometric gas sensor, in: Transducers 91, Int Conf Solid-State
Sens Actuators, IEEE, 1991, pp. 359–362.

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