This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project aims to produce a sensor technology which offers excellent sensing properties while withstanding high temperatures, pressures and electromagnetic fields, corrosive chemicals and radioactive contamination. A surface acoustic wave (SAW) structure employing an epitaxially grown aluminum nitride film and an aluminum oxide passivation layer on a sapphire substrate is being proposed as a sensor technology to meet this need. The Phase I effort will focus on the deposition of aluminum nitride piezoelectric and aluminum oxide passivation layers, the design of the layered SAW structure, the electrical characterization and the evaluation of the structure as a sensing element. The structure will be evaluated relative to its ability to survive harsh physical, chemical and electromagnetic environments, including temperatures in excess of 1000 C, CF4/02 plasma irradiated by 600 Watts of 13 MHz RF power and strong magnetic and electric fields. Phase I will result in materials and device technology in support of the overall objectives. Phase II effort will explore suitable instrumentation for minimal contact and non-contact moni-toring of the SAW sensor. Specific sensing applications will be explored. Building on the Phase I results, Phase II will result in a prototype sensor system for Phase III commercialization. The applications that are expected are in industrial/chemical process monitoring, electric power distribution system monitoring, chemical sensing in mixed waste.
