Nanostructured carbon materials are potentially of great technological interest for the development of electronic1,2, catalytic3,4 and hydrogen-storage systems5,6. Here we describe a general strategy for the synthesis of highly ordered, rigid arrays of nanoporous carbon having uniform but tunable diameters (typically 6 nanometres inside and 9 nanometres outside). These structures are formed by using ordered mesoporous silicas as templates, the removal of which leaves a partially ordered graphitic framework. The resulting material supports a high dispersion of platinum nanoparticles, exceeding that of other common microporous carbon materials (such as carbon black, charcoal and activated carbon fibres). The platinum cluster diameter can be controlled to below 3 nanometres, and the high dispersion of these metal clusters gives rise to promising electrocatalytic activity for oxygen reduction, which could prove to be practically relevant for fuel-cell technologies. These nanomaterials can also be prepared in the form of free-standing films by using ordered silica films as the templates.

Ordered nanoporous arrays of carbon supporting high dispersions of platinum nanoparticles

An analyte monitor includes a sensor, a sensor control unit, and a display unit. The sensor has, for example, a substrate, a recessed channel formed in the substrate, and conductive material disposed in the recessed channel to form a working electrode. The sensor control unit typically has a housing adapted for placement on skin and is adapted to receive a portion of an electrochemical sensor. The sensor control unit also includes two or more conductive contacts disposed on the housing and configured for coupling to two or more contact pads on the sensor. A transmitter is disposed in the housing and coupled to the plurality of conductive contacts for transmitting data obtained using the sensor. The display unit has a receiver for receiving data transmitted by the transmitter of the sensor control unit and a display coupled to the receiver for displaying an indication of a level of an analyte. The analyte monitor may also be part of a drug delivery system to alter the level of the analyte based on the data obtained using the sensor.

Analyte Monitoring Device And Methods Of Use

http://nathan.instras.com/documentDB/paper-69.pdf

Porous silicon: a quantum sponge structure for silicon based optoelectronics

CMOS active pixel sensors (APS) have performance competitive with charge-coupled device (CCD) technology, and offer advantages in on-chip functionality, system power reduction, cost, and miniaturization. This paper discusses the requirements for CMOS image sensors and their historical development, CMOS devices and circuits for pixels, analog signal chain, and on-chip analog-to-digital conversion are reviewed and discussed.

CMOS image sensors: electronic camera-on-a-chip

The present invention relates generally to systems and methods for measuring an analyte in a host. More particularly, the present invention relates to systems and methods for transcutaneous measurement of glucose in a host.

Transcutaneous analyte sensor

Characterization of perfluorosulfonic acid polymer coated enzyme electrodes and a miniaturized integrated potentiostat for glucose analysis in whole blood.

A magnetic field sensor is an entrance transducer that converts a magnetic field into an electronic signal. Semiconductor magnetic field sensors exploit the galvanomagnetic effects due to the Lorentz force on charge carriers. Integrated semiconductor, notably silicon, magnetic field sensors, are manufactured using integrated circuit technologies. Integrated sensors are being increasingly developed for a variety of applications in view of the advantage offered by the integration of the magnetic field sensitive element together with support and signal processing circuitry on the same semiconductor chip. The ultimate goal is to develop a broad range of inexpensive batch-fabricated high-performance sensors interfaced with the rapidly proliferating microprocessor. This review aims at the recent progress in integrated silicon magnetic devices such as integrated Hall plates, magnetic field-effect transistors, vertical and lateral bipolar magnetotransistors, magnetodiodes, and current-domain magnetometers. The current development of integrated magnetic field sensors based on III-V semiconductors is described as well. Bulk Hall-effect devices are also reviewed and serve to define terms of performance reference. Magnetic device modeling and the incorporation of magnetic devices into an integrated circuit offering in situ amplification and compensation of offset and temperature effects are further topics of this paper. Silicon will continue to be aggressively exploited in a variety of magnetic (and other) sensor applications, complementary to its traditional role as integrated circuit material.

Integrated semiconductor magnetic field sensors

A new approach for the fabrication of micromechanical structures

A simple CMOS integrated potentiostatic control circuit is described. The circuit maintains a constant bias potential between the reference and working electrodes. Chemical concentration signals are converted amperometrically to an output voltage with a slope of approximately 60 mV//spl mu/A. Redox currents from 0.1 to 3.5 /spl mu/A can be measured with a maximum nonlinearity of /spl plusmn/2% over this range. This design also provides the capability of performing differential measurements in order to null the effect of spurious background current. The total power consumption is less than 2 mW. Experimental results are reported showing the performance of the circuit as a chemical sensor control system.

A CMOS potentiostat for amperometric chemical sensors

Two different unmodified industrial CMOS processes have been used for the integration of highly interdigitated pn structures. Under forward bias these pn junctions emit narrow-band infrared light at 1160 nm with an electrical-to-optical power conversion efficiency of typically 10 −4 . The same junctions show broad-band visible-light emission between 450 and 800 nm in the avalanche breakdown region under reverse bias with efficiencies of the order of 10 −8 . This is already enough for a first few practical applications as light-emitting devices (LEDs). No satisfactory explanation for this emission efrect, fitting all the experimentally observed electro-optical and physical properties of our silicon LEDS, has been found yet.

Henry Baltes

Papers

Characterization of perfluorosulfonic acid polymer coated enzyme electrodes and a miniaturized integrated potentiostat for glucose analysis in whole blood.

Integrated semiconductor magnetic field sensors

A new approach for the fabrication of micromechanical structures

A CMOS potentiostat for amperometric chemical sensors

Light-emitting devices in industrial CMOS technology