This paper describes the results of a study of a few design parameters influencingthe performance of sensor arrays constructed from nanostructured thin films andinterdigitated microelectrodes (IMEs). The nanostructured thin films on the IME deviceswere prepared from nonanedithiol (NDT) and mercaptoundecanoic acid (MUA) linkedassemblies of 2-nm sized gold nanoparticles. The sensor array data in response to volatileorganic compounds were collected and analyzed using fractional factorial experimentaldesign and analysis of variance for understanding effects of the design parameters on thesensitivity. While the smaller value for the microelectrode space, width, and lengthgenerally led to higher response sensitivity, a strong dependence on the nature of thenanostructured thin films was found. The microelectrode space was the most importantdesign parameter for NDT-based thin films. However, the microelectrode space, width, andlength were found to play almost equally important roles for MUA-based thin films. Theprincipal component analysis results for classification performances of the arrays consistingof a set of thin films have demonstrated the possibility of optimizing sensor arrays byappropriate selections of microelectrode parameters and nanostructured sensing films.
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