WIN Seminar - Dr. Genki Yoshikawa "Nanomechanical Sensors (MSS, AMA) towards IoT Olfactory Sensor System"

Demands for new sensors to detect or identify target molecules are rapidly growing in various fields, such as food, agriculture, medicine, security, and environment. Nanomechanical sensors have potential to contribute to these global demands owing to their intrinsic versatility. Based on the newly developed platform “Membrane-type Surface stress Sensor (MSS)," we are now trying to realize useful nanomechanical sensor systems which can fulfill the practical requirements, such as portability, low-cost, ease of use, in addition to the basic specifications, e.g. high sensitivity and selectivity.
While the MSS provides a practical sensing element, a consumer sensor system requires further optimization and integration of lots of components including receptor layers, hardware including electronics and sample handling, multidimensional data analysis, and precise calibration for high reproducibility. To establish a de facto standard for odor analysis and sensor systems employing the nanomechanical MSS technology, the “MSS Alliance” was launched jointly with companies and a university. In addition, “Aero-Thermo-Dynamic Mass Analysis (AMA)” which we have recently developed will provide another approach to characterizing gases by measuring molecular weight in ambient condition without a vacuum or ionization. In this talk, the overview of the MSS, AMA, and the related technologies ranging from the optimization scheme of the sensor chip to system level developments will be presented with some demonstration using actual sensor devices.