General Objective: Development of a gas sensor based on millimeter-wave molecular spectroscopy for the analysis of breath gas

1. Transmitter and receiver: Development of a frequency-tunable millimeter-wave transmitter and a heterodyne receiver, which covers the relevant frequency range of the millimeter-wave breath sensor. Both are equipped with integrated on-chip antennas and will be fabricated in SiGe BiCMOS technology.

2. Breath gas sensor: Development of a compact millimeter-wave breath sensor. The sensor consists of the millimeter-wave transmitter and receiver. Both are integrated with a gas absorption cell and a collection system for exhaled air. The spectra will be analysed and the gas components will be identified using multivariate analysis techniques.

3. Medical evaluation: Evaluation of the millimeter-wave breath sensor with respect to sensitivity and specificity in a clinical environment with a healthy control group and COPD patients

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) act as biomarkers in exhaled air. Several hundreds of them have been detected in exhaled air. Different pulmonary and non-pulmonary diseases can be compared bio-informatically using the characteristic VOC profiles or patterns. Breath measurement has a large potential, because it is non-invasive and inherently safe.

High-spectral resolution millimeter-wave/terahertz gas spectroscopy is a very appropriate technique to meet the objective of a high-sensitivity, high-specificity breath sensor, which can detect a number of molecules simultaneously and therefore provide a profile of exhaled VOCs. Many molecules have rotational transitions in this frequency range which can be probed.

A push for millimeter-wave/terahertz spectroscopy comes from the rapid developments regarding silicon semiconductor technology and circuits. This progresses towards ever higher device cut-off frequencies, enabling the development of circuits in SiGe BiCMOS beyond 200 GHz. It is the objective of this project to develop a breath sensor based on millimeter-wave/terahertz gas spectroscopy around 250 GHz in SiGe BiCMOS technology.

Refereed Publikations

Thamires Marques de Lima, Cristiane Mayumi Kazama, Andreas Rembert Koczulla, Pieter S Hiemstra, Mariangela Macchione, Ana Luisa Godoy Fernandes, Ubiratan de Paula Santos, Maria Lucia Bueno-Garcia, Dirce Maria Zanetta, de André CD, Paulo Hilario Nascimento Saldiva, Ph in exhaled breath condensate and nasal lavage as a biomarker of air 1 pollution-related inflammation in street traffic-controllers and office-workers, Naomi Kondo Nakagawa Clinics (Sao Paulo). 2013 Dec; 68(12):1488-94. [IF 1,59]

Tobias Rogosch, Nina Herrmann, Rolf F. Maier, Eugen Domann, Akira Hattesohl, Andreas Rembert Koczulla, Michael Zemlin, Detection of primary bloodstream infections and prediction of bronchopulmonary dysplasia in preterm neonates by using an electronic nose, J Pediatr. 2014 Jun 11. pii: S0022-3476(14)00407-7 [IF 4,3]

Haller A, Schuerg S, Schudt F, Koczulla AR, Mursina L, Gross V, Sohrabi K. Supporting Prolonged COPD Monitoring Using an Application for Mobile Devices. Stud Health Technol Inform. 2015; 212:154-8. [IF 0]

Utiyama DM, Yoshida CT, Goto DM, de Santana Carvalho T, de Paula Santos U, Koczulla AR, Saldiva PH, Nakagawa NK. The effects of smoking and smoking cessation on nasal mucociliary clearance, mucus properties and inflammation. Clinics (Sao Paulo). 2016 Jul;71(6):344-50. doi: 10.6061/clinics/2016(06)10. [IF 1,3]

Gaida, Arne; Holz, Olaf; Nell, Christoph; Schuchardt, Sven; Lavae-Mokhtari, Bianca; Kruse, Lena; Boas, Ursula; Langejuergen, Jens; Allers, Maria; Zimmermann, Stefan; Vogelmeier, Claus; Koczulla, Andreas; Hohlfeld, Jens A dual center study to compare breath volatile organic compounds from smokers and non-smokers with and without COPD" J Breath Res. 2016 Apr 15;10(2):026006 [IF 4,6]

K. Schmalz, J. Borngräber, W. Debski, M. Elkhouly, R. Wang, P. Neumaier, D. Kissinger und H.-W. Hübers, 245-GHz Transmitter Array in SiGe BiCMOS for Gas Spectroscopy, IEEE Transactions on Terahertz Science and Technology, 6 (2), S. 318-327, 2016.

N. Rothbart, K. Schmalz, J. Borngräber, D. Kissinger und H.-W. Hübers, Gas Spectroscopy by Voltage-Frequency Tuning of a 245 GHz SiGe Transmitter and Receiver, IEEE Sensors Journal, 16 (24), 2015.

K. Schmalz, N. Rothbart, P. F.-X. Neumaier, J. Borngräber, H.-W. Hübers, and D. Kissinger, Gas Spectroscopy System for Breath Analysis at mm-wave/THz Using SiGe BiCMOS Circuits, IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, 65 (5), 2017 (Invited Paper).

M. H. Eissa, A. Awny, M. Ko, K. Schmalz, M. Elkhouly, A. Malignaggi, A.C. Ulusoy, and D. Kissinger, A 220–275 GHz Direct-Conversion Receiver in 130-nm SiGe:C BiCMOS Technology, IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters, vol. 27, no. 7, pp. 675-677, July 2017.

Conference Contributions

K. Schmalz, J. Borngräber, P. Neumaier, H.-W. Hübers und D. Kissinger, Sensor System in SiGe BiCMOS at 245 and 500 GHz for Gas Spectroscopy, Proc. of the 16th IEEE Topical Meeting on Silicon Monolithic Integrated Circuits in RF Systems (SiRF), Austin, Texas (USA), 2016.

K. Schmalz, J. Borngräber, P. Neumaier, N. Rothbart, D. Kissinger und H.-W. Hübers, Gas Spectroscopy System at 245 and 500 GHz using Transmitters and Receivers in SiGe, 2016 Global Symposium on Millimeter Waves (GSMM) & ESA Workshop on Millimetre-Wave Technology and Applications, Espoo (Finnland) 2016 (Best Paper Award).

W. Winkler und K. Schmalz, Silicon-Germanium RF-Frontends for Terahertz Radar Imaging and Gas Spectroscopy, Proceeding of 7th International Workshop on Terahertz Technology and Applications, (THz 2016), Kaiserslautern, 2016.

N. Rothbart, K. Schmalz, J. Borngräber, D. Kissinger und H.-W. Hübers, A Compact Gas Spectroscopy Sensor System Based on a Voltage-Frequency-Tuned 245 GHz SiGe Transmitter and Receiver, International Conference on Infrared, Millimeter and Terahertz Waves (IRMMW), Kopenhagen (Dänemark), 2016.

K. Schmalz, J. Borngräber, S. B. Yilmaz, N. Rothbart, D. Kissinger und H.-W. Hübers, Gas Spectroscopy with 245 GHz Circuits in SiGe BiCMOS and Frac-N PLL for Frequency Ramps, IEEE Sensors Conference, Orlando, Florida (USA), 2016.

K. Schmalz, N. Rothbart, J. Borngräber, S. B. Yilmaz, D. Kissinger, und H.-W. Hübers, Gas spectroscopy system with 245 GHz transmitter and receiver in SiGe BiCMOS, in Proc. SPIE 10103, Terahertz, RF, Millimeter, and Submillimeter-Wave Technology and Applications X, San Francisco, Kalifornien (USA), 2017.

N. Rothbart, K. Schmalz, J. Borngräber, D. Kissinger und H.-W. Hübers, 245 GHz SiGe Transmitter and Heterodyne Receiver for Gas Spectroscopy, 28th International Symposium on Space Terahertz Technology, Köln, 2017.

N. Rothbart, K. Schmalz, J. Borngräber, D. Kissinger und H.-W. Hübers, Gas Sensing around 245 GHz with a SiGe Transmit/Receive System, German Terahertz Conference 2017, Bochum, 2017.

K. Schmalz, N. Rothbart, J. Borngräber, S. B. Yilmaz, D. Kissinger und Heinz-Wilhelm Hübers, Gas Spectroscopy with Transmitters and Receivers in SiGe BiCMOS for 225-273 GHz, SPIE Security + Defence, Warschau (Polen), 2017 (akzeptiert).

N. Rothbart, K. Schmalz, J. Borngräber, D. Kissinger und H.-W. Hübers, Gas detection with sub-ppm sensitivity based on a 245 GHz SiGe BiCMOS transmitter and receiver, International Conference on Infrared, Millimeter and Terahertz Waves (IRMMW), Cancún (Mexiko), 2017 (akzeptiert).

M. H. Eissa , A. Malignaggi, M. Ko , K. Schmalz , J. Borngräber, A. C. Ulusoy,,and D. Kissinger, 216 – 256 GHz Fully Differential Frequency Multiplier-by-8 Chain with 0 dBm Output Power, European Microwave Conference, EuMC, Nuremberg, Germany, October 2017 (akzeptiert).

Workshops

N. Rothbart und H.-W. Hübers, Gassensorik mittels mmW/THz-Spektroskopie, PPA Seminar: Gasanalytik und Gefahrstoffdetektion, Schwerin, 2016.

K. Schmalz, N. Rothbart, H.-W. Hübers und D. Kissinger, Gas spectroscopy system for breath analysis at mm-wave/THz using circuits in SiGe BiCMOS, Workshop „Emerging Applications of THz”, International Microwave Symposium (IMS), Honolulu, Hawaii (USA), June 2017.