Miniaturized components are a nearby reality that facilitates our daily life in a subtle way. One of the clearest examples is the advances suffered in microelectronics that have permitted the development of both the day by day and the new information technologies electronics. This tendency has also been observed in other knowledge areas, such us biology, medicine or chemistry. In this last field, especially from the nineties, a great scientific effort has been carried out in order to obtain microdevices that could allow us to perform analysis of certain environmental pollutant parameters. The use of microanalyzers provides a high number of advantages. Among them: easy mass production (as a result, costs reduction), low consumption of reagents, low volumes of waste products (due to the small dimensions of the constructed devices), short analysis times and portability. This last characteristic enables the user to carry out in-situ and in-time analysis in places where it would not be possible to place standard equipments, due to their higher dimensions. Silicon and glass have been the most widely used materials with miniaturization purposes, not only due to their appropriate physical and chemical properties, but also to the degree of development of their associated technologies. In the last years, however, polymers are becoming a good alternative due to, especially, their low cost. To avoid some limitations found both in the materials and in their technologies, in this thesis we have emphasize on the use of an alternative technology known as LTCC (Low Temperature Co-fired Ceramics) or green tapes technology. The use of these materials provides us a great versatility to construct miniaturized analyzers. Firstly, the devices can be fabricated without the need of special working conditions, such as clean rooms or specialized staff. Ceramics can be mechanized by means of a simple CNC (Computer Numerically Controlled) equipment or a laser, being the prototyping process very short. Additionally, the multilayer methodology enables the design of complex three-dimensional structures in an easy way. This simplifies extraordinarily the miniaturization and integration of several sample pretreatment steps (mixing reagents, separation, preconcentration, etc.), which are needed to carry out some analysis, as well as the monolithic integration of the detection systems. In this thesis, a new general fabrication methodology to construct miniaturized analysis systems is presented. The procedure has been put into practice by means of the design of environmental microanalyzers to control the water quality in rivers and drinking waters. Thanks to its versatility, the new fabrication methodology has permitted to integrate different detection systems, such as electrochemical (potentiometric and amperometric) and optical (spectrophotometric and luminiscent). Thus, we have designed, developed and evaluated microanalyzers to determine parameters such as, ammonium, nitrate, nitrite and phosphate ions, which are key components in eutrophication processes. Nowadays, taking advantage of the LTCC technology, we have also developed devices to determine persistent organic micropollutants.
Miniaturizacion de Analizadores Químicos mediante la tecnologia LTCC
Ibáñez Garcia, N. (Author). 2 Jul 2007
Student thesis: Doctoral thesis
Ibáñez Garcia, N. (Author),
Alonso Chamarro, J. (Director),
2 Jul 2007Student thesis: Doctoral thesis
Student thesis: Doctoral thesis