An all electronic, fully microfabricated micro gas chromatograph

This paper reports a full micro gas chromatograph (µGC) in which all the components are electronic. All components, including a Knudsen pump, a preconcentrator, separation columns, and capacitive gas detectors, form a complete µGC system that has no moving parts, uses room air as carrier gas, and can be fabricated by a common low-cost process. The preliminary system has experimentally demonstrated sampling, separation, and detection of 12 chemicals with 1– 10 ppm concentrations. The calculated detection limit is expected to reach as low as 20 ppb.