Detection of Volatile Organic Compounds in Exhaled Human Breath by Millimeter- Wave/Terahertz spectroscopy

We present results on the detection of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) in exhaled human breath by mmW/THz spectroscopy. Two spectrometers were used: The first one is based on a transmitter and a receiver in SiGe BiCMOS technology. In a breath sample, 240 ppm of ethanol were detected through its absorption spectrum around 242 GHz. This corresponds to a sensitivity of 250 ppb/Hz for ethanol. With a laboratory spectrometer based on commercial components, we detected several other VOCs in human breath samples. All samples were collected in 2 liter Tedlar bags, commonly used in medical breath gas studies.