Platinum Balanced Cantilever-based Thermal Conductivity Detector for Gas Chromatography Application

In this paper, we present the design, fabrication and experimental evaluation of a platinum balanced cantilever-based TCD. The TCD is fabricated by sandwiching a thin layer of Al
₂
O
₃
between platinum layers. The residual stress in platinum films were used to keep the cantilever flat. The miniaturization and geometric design of the TCD facilitates high operating temperature of 300 °C with a power consumption of 8 mW. The sensor's sensitivity to temperature and flow rate changes was evaluated for several operating temperatures, 105, 140 and 300 °C. It revealed that sensitivity to temperature changes decreases as the sensor's operating temperature increases. The TCD was connected to a GC system to compare its detection performance with a standard FID for a hydrocarbon mixture. The platinum balanced TCD also succeeded in detecting 5 ppm of ammonia.