Electrostatic Selectivity of Volatile Organic Compounds\nUsing Electrostatically Formed Nanowire Sensor

Abstract

For\nthe past several decades, there is growing demand for the development\nof low-power gas sensing technology for the selective detection of\nvolatile organic compounds (VOCs), important for monitoring safety,\npollution, and healthcare. Here we report the selective detection\nof homologous alcohols and different functional groups containing\nVOCs using the electrostatically formed nanowire (EFN) sensor without\nany surface modification of the device. Selectivity toward specific\nVOC is achieved by training machine-learning based classifiers using\nthe calculated changes in the threshold voltage and the drain-source\non current, obtained from systematically controlled biasing of the\nsurrounding gates (junction and back gates) of the field-effect transistors\n(FET). This work paves the way for a Si complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor\n(CMOS)-based FET device as an electrostatically selective sensor suitable\nfor mass production and low-power sensing technology.