ISBN 978-3-8439-4625-4

978-3-8439-4625-4, Reihe Verfahrenstechnik

Julian Menges
Nanostructuring of Chemoresponsive Hydrogels for Sensing Applications in Microelectromechanical Systems

184 Seiten, Dissertation Technische Universität Kaiserslautern (2020), Softcover, A5

Zusammenfassung / Abstract

Modern microelectronics have a rapidly increasing impact on everyday life inducing a growing demand for better, faster and more generic microsensors. Chemical microsensors are already established and being developed as quick tests for health surveillance like in diabetes monitoring, but they often require long development times. In this work, chemically responsive hydrogel layers were integrated into small, fragile microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), i.e. a mass sensor, to create a novel tool for microsensors, which holds the potential for rapid on-line analysis. This was done in three approaches, a bottom up approach where the polymer is grown from the surface (called molecular brushes), an approach to make hydrogel primers spin-coatable through specialized primers and an approach using multiphoton lithography. The first gave moderate control over layer thickness, but none over lateral structuring. The second enabled both since layers could be structured with very high precision by plasma etching through masks but was not suitable for the used microsensor. The third approach required finely tuned primer solutions which reduced radical diffusion in a controlled fashion which finally lead to a chemoresponsive microsensor.