A MEMS Singlet Oxygen Generator—Part I: Device Fabrication and Proof of Concept Demonstration

Abstract

This paper reports the design, fabrication, and proof of concept demonstration of a singlet oxygen generator (SOG) that operates on the microscale. The micro-SOG (muSOG) chip is implemented in a three-wafer stack using deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) and wafer bonding as key technologies. The device creates singlet delta oxygen (O2(a)) in an array of packed-bed reaction channels fed by inlet manifolds with pressure drop channels that ballast the flow. An integrated capillary array separates the liquid and gas by-products, and a microscale heat exchanger removes excess heat of reaction. The fabrication process and package are designed to minimize collisional losses and wall deactivation of O2(a). The design, fabrication, and package of the device are documented. Proof of concept demonstration of the device is given by optical emission measurements of the spontaneous decay of the O2 (a) molecule into its triplet state and by the observation of the emission from dimol pairs of O2 (a) molecules.