MEMS Based Capacitive Sensor for Detection of Heavy Metal Ions in Water

Water contamination by Heavy Metal Ions (HMIs) is one of the major dangerous contaminations for human health. Therefore, there must be periodic monitoring of water. In this work, we have designed and simulated micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) based capacitive sensor for detection of HMIs. The proposed sensor is a simulation in COMSOL multiphysics to save time and avoid cost fabrication. The sensor is designed and a comparative study is analyzed with different silicon compounds (like silicon, polysilicon and silicon nitride) with layer coating for targeted heavy metal ions detection and the mechanical displacement under the pressure of HMIs target was used to estimate the structures. Based on the simulation result, the device produces high sensitivity and a linear characteristic response, the sensitivity for silicon, polysilicon and silicon nitride is 2.27, 2.11 and 1.63 mF/F/Pa respectively.