The identification and quantification of toxic chemicals isessential for the cost-effective remediation of hazardous wastesites. The development of a chemical microinstrument is proposedfor environmental analysis: a silicon chip containing multiplemicromachined components that work together to attain the highselectivity and sensitivity characteristic of conventionalanalytical instruments. This chip will be the enabling technologyfor handheld chemical analyzers that are user-friendly,inexpensive, and battery operated, yet have the power to performthe sort of chemical analysis that now requires expensive,fragile laboratory instruments. The aim in Phase I will be todesign and build critical components of the micromachined chip.The circuitry and algorithms to control the individual chipelements will be designed and tested, and tests will be performedto evaluate the validity of the approach and to guide furtherdevelopment.Anticipated Results /Potential Commercial Applications as described by the awarded: This technology should be broadlyapplicable to in situ waste site characterization, "smart" conepenetrometers, feedback-control of waste-remediation processes,classifying waste products in known storage facilities, personalchemical-exposure monitoring, and indoor-air-quality monitoring.
