Comparison of a conventional with an advanced micromachined flexible-fuel sensor

The development of alternative-fuel vehicles has made it necessary to have sensors that can precisely analyze the composition of the fuel used by a flexible-fuel automobile running on a mixture of gasoline and ethanol/methanol. The current sensors are very large and costly. A silicon-based advanced flexible-fuel sensor has now been developed based on a micromachined interdigitated structure (3-D IDS) and a signal-conditioning circuit realized with an ASIC. This use of microsystem technology permits a dramatic reduction in the size, weight and cost of the sensor, while at the same time increasing its accuracy. The design of the sensor also provides the possibility of easy adaptation for a variety of further applications.