SINCE JANUARY 2011, MORE THAN 10,000 IMPROVISED EXPLOSIVE DEVICES OR IED EVENTS HAVE OCCURED
IN MORE THAN 112 COUNTRIES. THE ABILITY TO DETECT CHEMICALS USED IN EXPLOSIVES
CAN SAVE OUR SOLDIERS' AND CIVILIANS' LIVES. DR. CHRIS FIELD AND THE SCIENTISTS AT THE
NAVAL RESEARCH LABORATORY HAVE DEVELOPED A PATENT PENDING PROCESS, USING SILICON FOR
A SENSOR THAT MAY REVOLUTIONIZE THE WAY WE LOOK AT TRACE CHEMICAL DETECTION.
IT IS CALLED SiN-VAPOR. Detecting IED's in the battlefield or explosives
at airports is a complex problem because it is a trace chemical detection problem. And
what that really means is that IEDs and the compounds we are interested in don't really
want to be in the gas phase. And that's where we need them to be in order to do our
detection. So they need to be up in the air. But these are easily masked or overshadowed
by a more abundant compound such as perfume or diesel exhaust.
DOGS AND LABORATORY GRADE EQUIPMENT ARE THE CURRENT SATE OF THE ART FOR TRACE CHEMICAL
DETECTION, BUT BOTH ARE EXPENSIVE AND REQUIRE A TRAINED PROFFESIONAL
TO HANDLE THE SENSORS DR. FIELD HAS BEEN WORKING ON
ARE AN EXAMPLE OF NANOTECHNOLOGY. Nanoscale is 1x10 to the negative nine meters
which is the scientific definition. Another way of putting it is let us assume
that the diameter of a human hair is 100 microns. So if you can take the diameter of a human
hair, cut it down, and look at the cross sectional area. We can fit a million of our nanowires
in the cross sectional area of a single human hair.
So what is really needed for the soldier, and the warfighter, and at airports is small
portable, light weight, low power, low overhead sensors that you can give to everybody and
distribute them across the globe. THE SENSORS ARE IN THE EARLY STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT
BUT THE TECHNOLOGY HAS DEMONSTRATED DETECTION CAPABILITY ON THE PARTS PER BILLION LEVEL
OF SENSITIVITY. SiN-VAPOR stands for Silicon Nonowire in a
Vertical array with a Porous Electrode. SiN-VAPOR is unique and different from other
technologies out there in that is a 3D architecture so we are maximizing the surface area so we
are maximizing our sensing capabilities within our architecture.
With our technology we have been able to demonstrate parts per billion and just recently we have
been able to demonstrate parts per trillion detection of chemical compounds. So the first
part in solving trace chemical detection as a problem for IED detection is getting that
sensitivity, being able to detect and operate in the parts per trillion to the parts per
billion range. This is why we are very excited about the SiN-VAPOR architecture because we
have been able to demonstrate that level of sensitivity.
The next big hurdle which is where we are at is selectivity.
Now, fortunately, because we are using silicon and we have that history of functionalizing
and changing silicon structure we can utilize that from the semiconductor industry to hopefully
advance that. Combine that with some of the NRL scientists
and the facilities that we have here at NRL, we are very excited about accomplishing and
very confident about getting over that last hurdle to transition this technology to the
warfighter and also to the consumer. WHAT DOES THE FUTURE LOOK LIKE FOR THE SiN-VAPOR
SENSOR? The goal of this sort of project is to have
a small field-deployable distributed sensor on the same form factor as the cell phone.
"This would be akin to the Star Trek tricorder is what we are trying for.
So that everybody can be able to do chemical detection with their cell phones. And then
we could give that to every soldier out in the field so every soldier becomes a point
detector out in the field and can identify IEDs and do that without being close to them.
This could also be able to supplement dogs and also help in airport security. So one
way of doing Airport Security in the future if you had a sensor that demonstrated the
necessary sensitivity and selectivity like the SiN-VAPOR sensor is going towards, then
you could distribute that throughout the entire airport and have a checkpoint free airport
security system where you could map in real time the chemical plumes around every individual
in the airport. MAKING AIR TRAVEL A RELAXED, PLEASANT EXPERIENCE
WITH NO LINES AT THE AIRPORT, ONE COULD ONLY HOPE
THERE IS A LOT OF RESEARCH YET TO DO ON THE SiN-VAPOR BEFORE THESE SENSORS ARE USED IN
OUR CELL PHONES TO DETECT THE ENVIRONMENT AROUND US, BUT IT IS AN EXCITING IDEA.
NRL SCIENCE SOLVING THE CHALLENGES OF TOMORROW