Ge coated silicon nanowires as human respiratory sensing device

TL;DR

This paper presents Ge coated silicon nanowire sensors, synthesized via metal-assisted etching and sputtering, demonstrating high sensitivity and rapid response for detecting human respiration, with potential for diagnosing respiratory diseases.

Contribution

The study introduces a novel Ge coated silicon nanowire sensor fabrication method and demonstrates its effectiveness in human respiratory detection.

Findings

Sensors are highly sensitive to human breath.

Sensors exhibit rapid response times.

Potential application in respiratory disease diagnosis.

Abstract

We report on Ge coated silicon nanowires (SiNWs) sensors synthesized with metal assisted chemical etching and qualify their functionality as human respiratory sensor. The sensors were made from p-type single-crystalline (100) silicon wafers using a silver catalysed top-down etching, afterwards coated by 50 nm Ge thin layer using a magnetron sputtering. The Ge post-treatment were performed by rapid thermal annealing (RTA) at 450 and 700 C degrees. The sensors were characterized by X-ray diffraction diffractogram and scanning electron microscopy. It is demonstrated that the sensors are highly sensitive as human breath detectors, with rapid response and frequency detect-ability. They are also shown to be a good candidate for human respiratory diseases diagnoses.