Semiconductor Device-based Sensors for Gas, Chemical, and Biomedical Applications

Citation

Bogue, R. (2012), "Semiconductor Device-based Sensors for Gas, Chemical, and Biomedical Applications", Sensor Review, Vol. 32 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/sr.2012.08732aaa.010

Semiconductor Device-based Sensors for Gas, Chemical, and Biomedical Applications

Semiconductor Device-based Sensors for Gas, Chemical, and Biomedical Applications

Article Type: Book review From: Sensor Review, Volume 32, Issue 1

Edited by Fan Ren and Stephen J. Pearton,CRC Press,Boca Raton, FL,2011,$149.95,324 pp.,ISBN 9781439813874,www.crcpress.com/product/isbn/9781439813874; jsessionid=M91JmaHwg1e2y8by+2t8lg

This book’s seven chapters cover a somewhat eclectic selection of often highly specialised topics falling within the broad theme of semiconductor devices for sensing molecular variables. Each chapter is by multiple authors – there are 31 contributors in total – and frequently have a strong focus on the authors’ recent research, yielding a detailed and topical insight into the subject. The chapters all have a similar format: an introduction, which places the topic into a technological and often also a commercial context; the main text; a summary or conclusions; and an extensive list of references, in some cases over 200, the most recent being for 2010. Rather than providing an introduction, which is covered by the editors’ preface, the first chapter is perhaps the most specialised, being entitled “AlGaN/GaN sensors for direct monitoring of nerve cell response to inhibitors”. The next discusses the use of wide bandgap materials for biological and gas sensing and again focuses on AlGaN/GaN structures. Hydrogen sensing with wide bandgap compounds, including various nanomaterials, is the topic of chapter three, which also discusses the integration of the sensors into wireless networks. Chemical sensors based on indium nitride are the topic of chapter 4 and chapter 5 is devoted to zinc oxide films and nanostructures such as nanorods and nanowires for sensing gases, chemical species and biological quantities. Silicon FET-based biosensors are considered in the following chapter and the final chapter is devoted to MEMS-based optical chemical sensors based on techniques such as spectroscopy and interferometry. The book concludes with a comprehensive index.

This is a very detailed text containing a wealth of scientific and technological information and while not providing a comprehensive review of the use of semiconductors in sensing, it is an excellent source of reference on the subjects covered. In many cases, the underlying theory, materials, fabrication technologies, recent research and developments and sensor characterisation and testing are all discussed. A particularly useful feature is that, rather than just describing the research, there is a strong emphasis on uses in healthcare, environmental monitoring, security and other critical applications. Most importantly, perhaps, this book illustrates very well that there is far more to molecular sensing with semiconductors than just the use of silicon and as noted in the preface, wide bandgap materials have the potential to yield sensors with enhanced environmental performance. This book is well illustrated with several hundred schematics, graphs, photographs and micrographs, as well as many colour images. The editors, both professors at the University of Florida, have assembled a fine selection of well written articles with a consistent standard and although texts such as this can date rapidly, the strong background information ensures that it will be of value to academics and industrial researchers working in these fields for several years to come. Highly recommended.

Robert BogueAssociate Editor, Sensor Review