SnO2 Wheatstone bridge circuit (a) used for metal-oxide sensors and

responses to different gases (b)

•In air, oxygen is adsorbed on SnO₂ surface → captures electrons →
high resistance
•When reducing gas is present → reacts with adsorbed oxygen →
releases electrons → resistance decreases
 Heater (thermistor)
• Maintains high temperature (~200–400°C)
• Necessary for surface reactions
 Load resistor (R₃, R₄ etc.)
• Forms voltage divider
 Comparator
• Compares sensor voltage with reference
 Transistor + Alarm
• Activates alarm when threshold exceeded
Applications
•LPG leakage detection
•CO monitoring
•Industrial safety systems
•Air quality monitoring
Clark electrode (a); and the first-order one-dimensional model (b) of the oxygen tension distribution
throughout the system

At equilibrium partial pressure p0, am is the

solubility of oxygen in the membrane, F is the
Faraday’s constant, Dm is the diffusion
constant, and xm is the thickness of the
membrane.
 Clark oxygen sensor adapted for
detecting glucose
Applications
•Dissolved oxygen measurement
in water
•Biomedical (blood oxygen)
•Environmental monitoring
•Fermentation processes
•Principle: Electrochemical reduction of oxygen → current ∝ O₂
concentration
•Main parts: Pt cathode, Ag anode, electrolyte, Teflon membrane
•Working: O₂ diffuses → reduced at cathode → current generated

•Applications: DO measurement, biomedical

1. Interaction with analyte
•Ions in the liquid interact with the selective membrane
•This produces a surface potential (ψ\psiψ)
2. Formation of electric field
•The surface potential modifies the electric field across oxide layer
•This acts like an effective gate voltage
3. Channel modulation
•Electric field changes charge carrier density in channel
•Hence, drain current IDI_DID​ changes
Hydrogel layer
•Ensures ionic conduction between analyte and gate
 Applications
• pH measurement
• Biomedical sensing (glucose, urea)
• Environmental monitoring
• Gas sensing (with suitable membrane)
 •Sample
•Contains the target analyte (e.g.,
glucose, urea)
•Buffer layer
•Maintains constant pH and ionic
conditions
•Ensures proper enzyme activity
•Enzyme layer
•Immobilized enzyme (e.g., glucose
oxidase)
•Responsible for biochemical reaction
•Sensor (transducer)
•Converts chemical change → electrical
signal
•Enzyme = recognition element
Applications •Transducer = signal converter
•Glucose biosensors (most common)•Buffer stabilizes conditions
•Urea detection •Based on biochemical → electrical
•Lactate monitoring conversion
•Environmental analysis
 If sensor’s manufacturer tolerances and tolerances of the
interface (signal conditioning) circuit are broader than the
required system accuracy, a calibration of the sensor or a
combination of a sensor and an interface circuit is required to
minimize errors.
Calibration of a sensor can be done in several possible ways,
some of which are the following:
1. Calculation of the transfer function or its approximation to fit
the selected calibration points (curve fitting by computing
coefficients of a selected approximation).
2. Adjustment of the data acquisition system to trim (modify) the
measured data by making them to fit into a normalized or “ideal”
transfer function. An example is scaling of the acquired data.
3. Modification (trimming) of the sensor’ properties to fit the
predetermined transfer function.
4. Creating a sensor-specific reference device with matching
properties at particular calibrating points.
Calibration error is inaccuracy permitted by a manufacturer when a
sensor is calibrated in the factory. It shifts the accuracy of transduction for each
stimulus point by a constant. For example, let us consider a two-point calibration of a real
linear transfer function. To determine the slope and the intercept of the function, two
stimuli, s1 and s2, are applied to the sensor. The sensor responds with two corresponding
output signals A1 and A2. Let us say the first response was measured absolutely accurately,
while the other response was measured with error –D. This results in errors in the slope and
intercept calculation. A new erroneous intercept, a1 will differ from the true intercept, a, by
 A hysteresis error is a deviation of the sensor’s
output at a specified point of the input signal when
it is approached from the opposite directions.
 Typical causes for hysteresis are geometry of
design, friction, and structural changes in the
materials.
 Nonlinearity error is specified for sensors whose
transfer function may be approximated by a
straight line. A nonlinearity is a maximum deviation
(L) of a real transfer function from the
approximation straight line.

Linear approximations of a nonlinear transfer function (a); and

independent linearity; (b)
 Every sensor has its operating limits. Even if it is
considered linear, at some levels of the input
stimuli, its output signal no longer will be
responsive. Further increase in stimulus does not
produce a desirable output. It is said that the
sensor exhibits a span-end nonlinearity or
saturation.

Transfer function with saturation

 Repeatability (reproducibility) error is caused by the inability of a sensor
to represent the same value under presumably identical conditions. The
repeatability is expressed as a maximum difference between the output
readings as determined by two calibrating cycles, unless otherwise
specified. It is usually represented as % of FS:

Possible sources of the repeatability error may be thermal noise, build

up charge, material plasticity, etc.

Dead Band Error

Dead band is insensitivity of a
sensor in a specific range of
the input signals. In that
range, the output may remain
near a certain value (often
zero) over an entire dead band
zone.
 VCC

Vref

R1 R3 Rp VCC REFERENC
VOUT E
VOLTAGE heater
GND VIN ADJ
R2 Vout Rp
R4

ACCESS FOR
AUTOMATED
ALINGMENT
Trimming circuits resistive bridge circuit with a trimming resistor (a);
digitally adjustable voltage reference (b); and “rejustor,” thermally
trimmed resistor (c)
Processing multiple measurements from individual
chemical sensors, and from a number of different or
independent sensors, can provide information needed
to statistically reduce error and improve both selectivity
and sensitivity of a chemical sensor or chemical
detection instrument. Since measurement error is a sum
of systematic error and random error, the measurement
error of an individual sensor can be statistically reduced
via multiple samples by using statistics to reduce or
eliminate the random error. Responses from multiple
independent sensors of different types can be combined
(often referred to as sensor fusion) to provide
overlapping reinforced responses that better span the
sensors’ response spaces leaving fewer gaps where
analyte identification would be weak or unavailable.