Reproducibility of Sensitization with Polylaurilmetacrylate of Surface Acoustic Wave Gas Sensors Using the Spin Coating Process

The technology of surface acoustic wave-based (SAW) sensors greatly depends on the performance of the resulting sensing layer. To ensure real applications, the sensors must be produced with reproducibility, as well as the statistical consistency of analytical sensor response results must be assured. In this work, we investigated the reproducibility and the statistical performance of the coating procedure used in previous works for the development of new polymeric coating materials, and the statistics of the respective sensor responses were analyzed. The olylaurylmethacrilate (PLMA) is used as an example of polymeric coating material. Two series of sensors coated with distinct quantities of the polymer were produced and analyzed. The statistical analysis of the ultrasonic parameters of the sensor production presented very low variability for both series of sensors. The respective sensor responses, obtained with a set of analytes with distinct chemical functions, presented, in the same way, excellent reproducibility for both series of sensors. The very good reproducibility and statistical robustness of the sensor production data and of the respective sensor responses confirm the reliability of the methodology to produce sensors for the SAW technology.