Reducing Food Waste with a Tiny CMOS-MEMS Gas Sensor, Dubbed GMOS †

We present a tiny combustion-type gas sensor (named GMOS) fabricated using standard CMOS-SOI-MEMS technology. It is a low-cost thermal sensor with an embedded heater, catalytic layer and suspended transistor as a sensing element. The sensor principle relies on the combustion reaction of the gas that takes place on the catalytic layer. The exothermic combustion leads to a sensor temperature increase, which modifies the transistor current-voltage characteristics. The GMOS is useful for detecting different gases, such as ethanol, acetone and especially ethylene, as well as their mixtures. The sensor demonstrates an excellent sensitivity to ethylene of 40 mV/ppm and selective ethylene detection using nanoparticle catalytic layers of Pt, as well as TiO₂. Along with its low energy consumption, GMOS is a promising technology for low-cost ethylene detection systems at different stages in the food supply chain, and it may help reduce global fruit and vegetable loss and waste.