Inertial Impaction on MEMS Balance Chips for Real-Time Air Quality Monitoring

This paper reports on integration of microelectro-mechanical systems (MEMS) balance chips with aerosol inertial impactors for real-time monitoring of airborne particulate matter. Cascade inertial impactors have been extensively used for sampling and size separation of micro to nano-size airborne particles since they were first used in 1945. To introduce the real-time measurement capability to such tools, herein, MEMS resonator chips are employed as their impaction substrates. Dual-plate thermal-piezoresistive resonators (TPRs), that are shown to operate as promising mass balances, are integrated within a two-stage custom made aerosol impactor capable of size segregating particles down to a few tens of nanometers. Unlike cantilever-based microbalances or resonators operating in their bulk mode, TPRs provide uniform mass sensitivity over a big portion of their surface area. Upon deposition of airborne particles on the resonant sensors, the mass loading on each sensor and as a result the mass concentrations of size-segregated particles is measured in real-time. The air quality of different environments, including a class 10,000 cleanroom, was analyzed and monitored via the real-time impactor over a four day period. Comparison of the results with those of an optical particle counter demonstrates a clear correlation between the system response and the expected particle counts. Compared to existing optical particle counters, the proposed system offers the added advantage of detecting sub-100nm particles.