Integrated SU-8 photonic gas sensors based on PANI polymer devices: Comparison between metrological parameters

Abstract

In this work, we have designed and developed three families of integrated photonic sensors for ammonia detection. These photonic sensors are integrated onto single-mode TE 0–TM 0 SU-8 polymer planar waveguides and based on a polyaniline (PANI) sensitive polymer material. The first family relies on the deposit of a PANI–polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) composite sensitive layer on a given SU-8 waveguide. The second family relies on a PMMA passive layer deposited on the SU-8 waveguide before applying the PANI sensitive layer on the PMMA passive layer. The third family takes advantage of a PANI layer deposited by plasma technique directly onto the SU-8 waveguide. The working principle of such sensors is based on the optical intensity modulation induced within the single-mode waveguide owing to the interaction between the evanescent field and the sensitive layer. The sensing proprieties of these integrated photonic sensors to ammonia gas at room temperature were characterized and the comparison between these different families of photonic sensors is presented. Experimental results show that the sensor based on new plasma–PANI as sensitive layer has the better metrological parameters.