In this study, an Au sensor surface of surface plasmon resonance was developed for detection of catecholamine metabolites such as homovanilic acid (HVA) in urine samples. The sensor surface was modified with mixed self-assembled monolayer containing oligo (ethylene glycol) chain for reducing nonspecific adsorption. An indirect competitive assay using anti-HVA-concholepas concholepas hemocyanin (CCH) polyclonal antibody and HVA in model of urine solution was carried out. HVA concentrations of human urine samples were estimated from SPR sensor responses by referring the response curve. As the results, the detection limit of HVA in model of urine was obtained 15 ppb. The rank of estimated concentration in five human urine samples was matched with that of the quantified concentration by high performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry.

Groundwater monitoring in the area of the highway road near the mountain is important to prevent the road from collapsing. Our group has been studying to observe the groundwater using small water content sensor. To measure small water content, a high-sensitive small signal processing circuit using shielding type water content sensor chip was fabricated. Because the shielding electrode was needed to operate same voltage compared to current detecting electrode in the sensor chip, the constant voltage applying circuit was designed in the processing circuit. The proposed circuit connected the shielding type sensor chip was able to reduce the leakage current by 55% compared to previous circuit connected previous sensor chip. The measurements of model soils with volumetric water content in the range of 0.11% to 27.58% were performed. Proposed circuit with sensor chip was able to detect the water content volumes of all model soils. We succeeded in the fabrication of the signal operating circuit which achieved to measure small water content in the soil.

In general, beer degradation is evaluated by sensory test, however it depends on the subjectivity of an inspector. Therefore, it is highly required that an objective evaluation method is developed. It has been clarified that the degradation degree of beer proceeds mainly by oxidation of components derived from malt and formation of non-electrolyte trans-2-nonenal. In this study, we developed LB film taste sensor using metal complex for evaluating the degradation degree of beer with trans-2-nonenal concentrations. In addition, the physical properties of three metal electrodes and sensing film surface were evaluated with AFM and FT-IR, and these results and the sensor response characteristics were compared and discussed for improving the sensitivity as a sensor for beer degradation evaluation.

Humidity sensors based on QCM (quartz crystal microbalance) have been developed using an anodized alumina thin-film as a sensing material. An aluminum thin-film is deposited on a silver-coated quartz crystal by electron beam deposition and is anodized in an acid solution. The resultant alumina film is porous. The resonant frequency gradually decreases from 5 to 94%RH and steeply changes near 100%RH. This result shows that the sensor can be used as a dew-point sensor as well as a humidity sensor. The response times to the humidity changes from 27 to 59%RH and from 59 to 27%RH are less than 5 s. The sensor shows reversible response to some gases such as ethanol, toluene and acetone vapors in addition to airborne particles such as pollen.

Antigen-antibody inspection is a typical method of biochemical testing, however special knowledge and skills are necessary for that method. In order to resolve these issues, we have been developed a mobile-typed handy chemical sensor. This study developed a polymer sheet referred to as ELISA sheet that was possible to adsorb an antigen protein. We examined a reactivity of an antigen-antibody reaction on the sheet using an absorbance method. Further, we evaluated a sensor detection voltage when an antigen-antibody reacted polymer sheet was mounted on an electrode with a droplet of water.

The development of the high-speed tilt sensors are important in the research field of angle measurement and control, recently. This paper proposes a tilt sensor using the Neural Network comparators, and shows the experiment results of the accuracy and the response time. The proposed tilt sensor enables to reduce the response time.

The magneto-optical (MO) properties on magnetic stacked films were investigated for hydrogen gas-sensing applications. The MO interference (cavity) effect provided a large Kerr rotation angle. The distinct responses on the MO cavity with a Pd surface layer were observed during hydrogen gas exposure and removal.

The development of micro power supply technologies for mobile phones and portable electronics has increased in recent years. Methods of self power generation using the vibration loads of structures have attracted attention as the power supply technologies. The purpose of the study is to develop a high- efficiency PZT generator element that utilizes the vibration loads in the support members of a structure. However, piezoelectric elements only generate power in the order of several microwatts, so improving their power generation capacity is of the utmost importance.

In this study, we focused on lead zirconate titanate (Pb(Zr,Ti)O3, PZT) as the generating piezoelectric element. 1 mol% La-doped PZT element was prototyped, and vibration power generation experiment was conducted to evaluate power generation characteristics. As a result, it was confirmed that it shows higher power generation characteristics than 1 mol% Nb-doped PZT element.

This paper presents fabrication and characteristics of a tactile display device with individually-driven-type shape memory alloy (SMA) actuator array (5×5, 1 mm pitch, 10 µm thick) for the purpose to provide complex vibrating stimulations to the human finger skin. Each SMA actuator element in the arrayed device has Pt thin film heater (10 µm wide) for heating above the shape recovery temperature (~65°C), and individually connected Au thin film electric lines (70 µm wide). The fabrication processes of double-layered Au and Pt thin film lines with an insulator layer were newly developed, and then, the individually-driven SMA thick film actuator array was successfully fabricated. The SMA film actuator generated 17 mN force by DC electric heating (41 mW). The generated force decreased due to the poor thermal response when it was driven at frequency of 15 Hz or higher. However, similar level force generation was obtained by driving at 20 Hz with suppressed duty ratio 15% (1.1 mJ for one cycle). There was no thermal interference on neighbor SMA actuator elements during the individual driving. An SU-8 micro-structure with arrayed micro-pins and bias springs was fabricated and bonded to the SMA thick film actuator array. Using the completed device, individual vibrating motion was successfully performed.

Polycrystalline solar cells contain grain boundaries of its structure. In the vicinity of the grain boundary, problems such as recombination, increases in resistance value and leakage are caused. Thus, it is necessary to verify how the grain boundary affects the performance of the solar cell. In this study, we proposed a measurement method that does not require a separate cooling mechanism by using TMR sensor which is a high sensitivity magnetic sensor. As a result of comparison with the LBIC image, it was confirmed that the two images had correlation and captured the grain boundaries by the proposed method. The electromagnetic field reconstruction method was applied to the measured magnetic field information. The resolution of the magnetic field image improved, and the effectiveness of the electromagnetic field reconstruction method was demonstrated.