Silicon-Micromachined Gas Chromatographic Columns for the Development of Portable Detection Device

We report the fabrication of a gas chromatographic column module integrated on a silicon substrate and usable as a portable measurement device dedicated to the selective detection of various chemical compounds (gas or vapour). PDMS, PEG, and F13-TEOS stationary phases have been prepared in order to coat the inside walls of microchannels. The microcolumn tests were performed with a mixture of hydrocarbons and ketone. After having evaluated the effectiveness of such a separation module, we showed an application by coupling a GC microcolumn with a metal oxide-based gas sensor. The best results were obtained at a low isothermal temperature mode of the GC micro-column (near the ambient temperature). The coupling between the GC microcolumn and a metal oxide gas sensor enables to obtain a rapid, reliable, and selective analysis of various chemical compounds.