Received: 26 December 2018 Revised: 8 May 2019 Accepted: 20 June 2019

DOI: 10.1002/mmce.21895

RESEARCH ARTICLE

A compact tri-band microwave resonator for ethanol gas

detection

Gulam Nabi Alsath Mohammed | Kirubaveni Savarimuthu | Velkani Erattaiselvam |

Srinithya Rapuru | Tusharika Yarasi | Navya Dommalapati

Sri Sivasubramaniya Nadar College of

Engineering, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India Abstract
This article presents the design, simulation, fabrication, and testing of a compact
Correspondence
two-port microwave resonator coated with nanomaterials for ethanol gas sensing
Gulam Nabi Alsath Mohammed, SSN
College of Engineering, Chennai 603 110, applications. The proposed gas sensor consists of a transmission line loaded with
Tamil Nadu, India. three triangular split ring resonators for ethanol detection at three frequency bands
Email: [email protected]
viz. 2.2, 4.6, and 6.3 GHz. The transmission line has all-pass characteristics in which
Funding information band gaps are introduced using three split ring resonators. The TiO2 and ZnO
SSN Trust nanorods are used as sensitive layers for the proposed sensing application. The
nanorods, which are grown on a glass substrate of thickness 1 mm, are loaded on to
the two-port microwave resonator making the device sensitive to ethanol. The micro-
wave behavior of the sensor is analyzed using the scattering parameters. The absorp-
tion of the ethanol gas causes frequency detuning which is used to analyze the
presence of ethanol and its concentration. From the experiments, it is understood that
there is an increase in the frequency shift with an increase in the concentration of
ethanol gas. The sensing device with ZnO as a sensitive layer showed a higher aver-
age sensitivity of 2.35 compared to TiO2 whose average sensitivity is 1.29.

KEYWORDS
gas sensor, microwave resonator, nanorods, PCB

1 | INTRODUCTION health issues including serious harm to immune and nervous

systems as well as the kidneys and liver. So, the detection of
The day to day activities of human beings has led to the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) has gained enormous
release of a number of gases into the atmosphere. The emis- attention during the past few decades.
sions from automobiles, organic solvents as effluents from This article presents a process based on microwave trans-
commercial and industrial activities, pharmaceutical duction. It is based on the measurement of frequency varia-
manufacturing, and dry cleaning are some of the sources of tions to the adsorption of molecules on the surface of the
gases. The gases, which are used in various industrial appli- sensitive layer at room temperature.1 It allows estimating the
cations, are directly harmful to the flora and fauna. Many changes in the dielectric characteristics of a sensor, at micro-
other volatile organic compounds such as methanol, ethanol, wave frequency range, consecutive to the adsorption of mol-
benzene, formaldehyde become vapors or gases easily and ecules on the sensor.2 Advantages of microwave-based gas
are also hazardous air pollutants. The gases are harmful to sensors include the possibility to work at room temperature
the environment and can contribute to respiratory illness, and portability.3 It involves various measurement variables
impotence, sometimes cancer causing and also incur chronic (frequency shift, reflection and transmission coefficients

Int J RF Microw Comput Aided Eng. 2019;29:e21895. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/mmce © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. 1 of 10
https://doi.org/10.1002/mmce.21895
2 of 10 MOHAMMED ET AL.

variation, and phase change) and the variation is specific to frequency is the most effective for remote sensing because
a gas and sensitive material.4 This mechanism uses different the amplitude is susceptible to interference and noise, lead-
microwave designs such as resonator, antenna, and wave- ing to false positives (ammonia detection), while the fre-
guides. Materials, which are used as sensitive layers in this quency shift is relatively insensitive to these detrimental
technique, can be polymers, metal oxides or carbon nan- factors.7 The gas sensors operated at microwave frequencies
otubes (SWNT or MWNT), and zeolites. Sensitive materials offer better sensitivity.12 In Reference 12, the gas sensor is
are selected based on their gas sensing properties such as exposed to 100 ppm ethanol gas in humidity condition. Elec-
response time, recovery time, sensitivity, and selectivity to trical properties of conducting polymer get changed by
the target gas. The widely used sensitive materials are metal chemical interaction between the conducting polymer
oxides which are based on the adsorption and the reaction and ethanol gas which results in the frequency shift. In
between the surface of the sensitive materials and the gas Reference 13, the designed sensor is a microstrip patch
molecules. Gas sensing properties of sensitive material vary antenna coated with single-walled carbon nanotubes
with variations in the specific area, particle size, porosity, (SWCNTs). A frequency shift and change in permittivity have
and thickness of the sensing film.5 In Reference 6, a micro- been observed when the ethanol-water vapor is injected.
wave circular disk resonator coated with carbon nanotubes Thus from the study of the literature, several authors have
for the detection of NH3 with a response time of 10 minutes reported microwave gas sensing at a single narrow fre-
is reported. The researchers have concluded that changes in quency band. The sensing accuracy is not verified at differ-
the dielectric constant of the carbon nanotubes lead to ent frequency scales. Also, the validity of the results is not
change in the effective dielectric constant which alters the reported using time domain analysis. Therefore, effort is put
frequency domain characteristics of the microwave resona- in this research to analyze the gas sensor performance in
tor. In Reference 3, a grounded coplanar waveguide with both the time domain and frequency domain and also to
phthalocyanine as sensitive material for ammonia. Their improve the accuracy of the results by extending the mea-
work is based on the variation of real and imaginary parts of surements at three different frequencies. The proposed
the reflection coefficient when exposed to ammonia. In Ref- method adopts two sensitive layers viz., TiO2 and ZnO for
erence 7, a gas sensor using a patch antenna with PABS- ethanol gas detection. Ethanol sensing performance of this
SWNT as sensing material is reported. Measurements work shows a lower operating temperature, faster response
showed a frequency shift of 43 to 49 MHz for ammonia con- behavior, and better selectivity.
centrations ranging from 50 to 100 ppm and response time is
30 seconds. In Reference 8, a microwave resonator coated 2 | SYNTHESIS AND
with a PDMS layer act as an acetone sensor. The variation C H A R A C T E R I Z A T I O N OF
in the microwave resonance frequency is because of the SE NSITIVE MATER IAL
absorption-induced change in the permittivity of the sensi-
tive layer. Microwave-based gas sensors can be used in the This section outlines the laboratory procedure involved in
wireless sensor system. In Reference 2, the authors reported the synthesis of TiO2 and ZnO nanorods for use as sensitive
conductor-backed coplanar waveguides (CBCPW) with zeo- material for ethanol gas detection.
lite for sensing of toluene and the measurement is based on
amplitude variations of real and imaginary parts of imped-
ance for different concentrations at different frequencies. In 2.1 | Synthesis of TiO2
Reference 9, a technique based on SIW cavity resonators for Tetrabutylorthotitanate (TBT) is mixed with acetylacetone
ammonia gas detection operating at microwave frequency (ACA) in the equimolar ratio (1:1) to slow down the hydro-
with graphene as a sensing material is reported. Measure- lysis and condensation reaction. Forty milliliter of Millipore
ments showed that the resonant frequencies increase gradu- water (18.2 MΩ cm) is added slowly with the solution, and
ally with the injection time. In Reference 10, the researchers vigorously stirred for 10 min at room temperature. While
have deposited phthalocyanine thin films on microwave gas stirring, 30 mL of aqueous ammonia solution (28-30%) is
sensor substrate designed in stripline technology which will added in drops to the solution prepared. The resultant yellow
act as a sensor to ethanol, methanol, and acetone. In Refer- colored solution is then transferred to a Teflon-lined auto-
ence 11, microwave-based sensing measurements for the clave vessel and is placed in a silicone oil bath. Then auto-
detection of NH3 using titanium dioxide nanoparticles. clave contains the precursors which are heated to 170
C and
Numerous variables can be tracked using this technique, kept for 3 days without any interruption under stirring condi-
which improves the sensor differentiation capabilities tion. After 3 days, the autoclave is cooled to ambient tem-
through data crossing.11 Among all different detection mech- perature. The final product is washed several times with
anisms, the method relying on the shift of the resonant aqueous hydrochloric solution, 2-propanol, and Millipore
MOHAMMED ET AL. 3 of 10

FIGURE 1 XRD of the prepared TiO2 nanorods

FIGURE 3 XRD of the synthesized ZnO nanorods

FIGURE 2 FESEM of the synthesized TiO2 nanorods

water using filtration setup, followed by drying at 120
C for

12 hours.14 The XRD and FESEM of the TiO2 nanorods so
obtained are shown in Figures 1 and 2, respectively.
FIGURE 4 FESEM image of prepared ZnO nanorods

2.2 | Synthesis and characterization of ZnO substrate is annealed at 350
C for 1 hour to improve the
crystalline nature of the ZnO nanorods grown.15 Figures 3
The FTO coated glass substrate is precleaned using Mil- and 4 show the XRD and FESEM images of the prepared
lipore water and ethanol in an ultrasonicator, prior to the
ZnO nanorods, respectively.
hydrothermal growth synthesis of ZnO nanorods and is dried
in room temperature. The preparation of seed solution
involves continuous stirring of Zinc acetate and potassium 3 | TWO-PORT MICROWAVE
hydroxide (KOH) at an equimolar ratio in 50 mL of ethanol RESONATOR DESIGN
using a magnetic stirrer. Then ZnO seed layer is deposited
on the substrate using the spin coating technique at This section presents the design and characterization of a
3000 rpm for 30 seconds. At last, the ZnO seeded FTO sub- two-port microwave resonator which is to be used as a
strate is annealed in a homemade furnace at 350
C for microwave transducing device. Further, this section also pre-
30 minutes and cooled to room temperature. The aqueous sents the experimental procedure adopted.
growth solution of ZnO nanorods is prepared by stirring the
zinc nitrate hexahydrate and hexamethylenetetramine
3.1 | Sensor design
(HMTA) at an equimolar ratio in a magnetic stirrer continu-
ously. This solution is then transferred to a stainless steel The geometry of the proposed two-port microwave sensor is
autoclave and kept inside a hot digital air oven at 90
C for shown in Figure 5. The resonator is developed on a 1.6 mm
4 hours and then cooled to room temperature. Finally, the thick FR4 glass epoxy substrate with dielectric constant 4.3
4 of 10 MOHAMMED ET AL.

FIGURE 6 The proposed two-port microwave resonator

FIGURE 5 Geometry of the proposed microwave resonator.
L = 46, W = 30, Wp = 3.137, S1 = 13.5, W1 = 0.8, D1 = 1.8, S2 = 6.14, experimentation. The dimension of the glass load is 30 ×
W2 = 0.27, D2 = 0.5, S3 = 4.25, W3 = 0.27, D3 = 0.5, D4 = 0.25,
30 mm and is placed exactly at the middle. Therefore, the
D5 = 0.5, D6 = 0.25, g = 0.3 (all units are in mm)
glass load is present 8 mm away from the edges of the PCB.
The loading of the glass substrate also contributes to the
and loss tangent 0.023. The sensor consists of a 50 Ω trans- miniaturization of the microwave sensor. The final prototype
mission line print on one side and a full ground plane on the sensor offers a tri-band rejection at 2.2, 4.6, and 6.3 GHz.
rear side. The transmission line shows all-pass characteris- However, the proposed sensor is scalable and hence it can
tics. To this basic model, three band-gaps are introduced be redesigned to meet any of the frequency requirements.
using triangular split ring resonators. The split ring resona- Figure 6 shows the fabricated prototype of the microwave
tors are loop type frequency selective surface that provides resonator with SMA connector soldered on both the edges to
band-gap at the intended frequencies.16 The triangular split launch microwave energy. Figure 7 shows the glass loaded
ring resonators (TSRR) are adopted for miniaturization and microwave resonator. Figure 8 shows the proposed micro-
phase stability. TSRR occupies 21% and 43% lesser space wave resonator loaded with the sensing material.
compared to the conventional circular split ring resonator
(CSRR) and square split ring resonator (SSRR). Also, the λo
TSRR offers 8 to 10 dB higher rejection compared to CSRR λg = ð1Þ
ðξeff Þ1=2
and SSRR Three TSRRs of different size are deployed on
both sides of the transmission line sensor to realize band-  
gaps at three different frequency bands. The distance ξr + 1 ξr −1 12h − 1=2
ξeff = + 1+ ð2Þ
between the first and second TSRR structures is 0.5 mm and 2 2 wl
the distance between the second and third TSRR structures
is 0.25 mm. The transmission line and TSRR structures are c
λo = ð3Þ
separated by 0.25 mm. The width of the split in TSRR f
is 0.3 mm.
The basic equations used in the design of the microwave λg
3s = ð4Þ
sensor are given through Equations (1) to (4).14,17 Equa- 2
tions (1) to (3) are used to estimate the electrical length of
the split ring resonator for the design frequency. Equation (4)
is used to determine the length of the outer most triangular
split ring. The parameter “s” indicates the side length of the
3.2 | Experimental setup
outer triangle and λg indicates guided wavelength. The three
sides of the outer triangle have an overall electrical length The performance of the two-port glass loaded microwave
equal to half the guided wavelength. Further, the design is resonator with and without sensitive layer coating is per-
carried out by considering the effect of a glass substrate of formed using Keysight's N9917A Vector Network Analyzer.
thickness 1 mm loaded on to the microwave resonator. This The experimental setup to determine the gas concentration
is done because the nanorods synthesized above are grown using the proposed microwave sensor is shown in Figure 9.
on the glass substrate which is then loaded to the microwave This is done due to the lack of high-cost gas flow meters at
sensor. The glass loads are glued to the ends using noncon- the author's institute. The test gas is created in the laboratory
ductive adhesive to prevent any dislocation during the in a controlled environment. The laboratory setup consists of
MOHAMMED ET AL. 5 of 10

FIGURE 7 Glass loaded two-port microwave resonator

FIGURE 9 Experimental setup for sensor performance

estimation

frequency. This shift is attributed to the increase in the effec-

tive dielectric constant due to the glass loading. Further
increase in the effective dielectric constant is due to the coat-
ing of sensitive material (TiO2/ZnO) over the loaded glass.18
The reflection coefficient characteristics of the proposed
microwave sensor are shown in Figure 12. Similar to |S21|,
the same analysis can be carried out using |S11| by consider-
FIGURE 8 The proposed microwave sensing device ing the shift in the |S11| peak values at the intended frequen-
cies. However, in this article, the behavior of the microwave
a heating unit which vaporizes the liquid ethanol. The etha- sensor subject to varying gas concentration is analyzed using
nol vapors with known ppm are collected using a micro the transmission coefficient.
syringe and are passed through the gas-sensing chamber
through the inlet valve. The vapors when exposed to the
microwave sensor alter its electrical properties which are
recorded using a vector network analyzer. The cable and
connector losses are alleviated using SOLT calibration. The
sensing device is exposed to several concentrations of etha-
nol gas increasing from 100 ppm to 800 ppm using the
experimental setup. Figure 10 describes the complete proce-
dure for gas sensing used in this work.

4 | RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

4.1 | |S21| characteristics of resonator

The microwave resonator is designed using CST microwave
studio 2015. The accuracy of the simulated results are veri-
fied using both time and frequency domain solvers with
accuracy −50 dB and 10−4, respectively. Figure 11 shows
the transmission characteristics of the proposed microwave
sensor with and without glass loading and also with TiO2
coated glass. In Figure 11, the transmission coefficient char-
acteristics show a frequency shift toward the lower FIGURE 10 Flow graph of the proposed gas sensing technique
6 of 10 MOHAMMED ET AL.

F I G U R E 1 3 Concentration of ethanol gas vs frequency shift

FIGURE 11 Transmission characteristics of the microwave with TiO2 as a sensitive layer
resonator with and without the sensitive layer

TABLE 1 Frequency deviation for different concentration of

ethanol gas (TiO2 layer)

Concentration (ppm) Average frequency shift (MHz)

0 0
100 7.5
200 15
300 22.5
400 30
500 45
600 60
700 67.5
FIGURE 12 Reflection characteristics of the microwave
Note: Concentration of ethanol = 10.101*(frequency shift) + 37.88.
resonator with and without the sensitive layer

4.3 | Frequency deviation measurement (Δf)

for the ZnO layer
4.2 | Frequency deviation measurement (Δf)
The above experiment is repeated using ZnO nanorods
for the TiO2 layer
grown on the glass substrate. For the exposure of 100 ppm
At first, the experiment is performed by using TiO2 of ethanol gas, a frequency shift of 3.125 MHz is observed.
nanorods coated glass substrate as the sensitive layer. The On passing various concentration of ethanol gas, the increase
sensing device is exposed to 100 ppm of ethanol gas. Mea- in frequency shift is observed with an increase in gas con-
surements from the VNA are collected for every centration. Figure 13 shows the frequency shift vs the con-
30 seconds to observe the response time and recovery time. centration of ethanol gas for three different frequencies
From the data collected, frequency shift of 7.5 MHz is f1 = 2.2 GHz, f2 = 4.6 GHz, and f3 = 6.3 GHz. Table 2
observed when ethanol gas is exposed to the sensitive shows the average frequency shift obtained in the three fre-
layer. The same experiment is repeated for the concentra- quency bands and the regression equation for the concentra-
tions varying from 100 ppm to 700 ppm. An increase in tion of ethanol gas using ZnO nanorods as a sensitive layer.
the frequency shift is observed with an increase in ethanol Thus from Figures 13 and 14, it is evident that when the
gas concentration. Figure 13 shows the frequency shift vs sensor is exposed to different concentrations of ethanol gas
the concentration of ethanol gas for three different frequen- the resonance frequencies shift toward the lower side due to
cies f1 = 2.2 GHz, f2 = 4.6 GHz, and f3 = 6.3 GHz. Table 1 the increase in resistance of the sensitive layer because of
shows the various frequency shifts obtained and the regres- the adsorption of gas molecules.7,19-21 The change in fre-
sion equation for the concentration of ethanol gas using quency shift (Δf ) of the sensor increases with the increase in
TiO2 as a sensitive layer. the concentration of ethanol gas while the center frequencies
MOHAMMED ET AL. 7 of 10

T A B L E 2 Frequency deviation for different concentration of

ethanol gas (ZnO layer)

Concentration (ppm) Average frequency shift (MHz)

0 0
100 3.125
200 6.25
300 9.37
400 12.5
500 18.75
600 21.875
700 25

Note: Concentration ethanol gas = 27.78*(frequency shift) + 21.69. FIGURE 15 Concentration of ethanol vs change in impedance
(TiO2 layer)

F I G U R E 1 4 Concentration of ethanol gas vs frequency shift

FIGURE 16 Concentration of ethanol vs change in impedance
with ZnO as a sensitive layer
(ZnO layer)

Concentration = 1:147*ðImpedanceÞ + 41:48 ð5Þ

move toward the lower side. This phenomenon can also be
dealt with using the quality factor. The Q offered by the
microwave resonator decreases with an increase in the gas The above experiment is repeated using ZnO nanorods
concentration. This results in the movement of the resonant grown on a glass substrate. For exposure of 100 ppm of eth-
frequency toward the lower frequency. anol gas, an average impedance shift of 100 Ω has been
observed. On passing different concentrations of ethanol
gas, the same trend of increase in impedance shift with an
4.4 | Analysis using time domain increase in concentration is observed. Figure 16 shows the
reflectometry (TDR) graph of the change in impedance vs the concentration of
TDR analysis is carried out to discuss the performance of ethanol gas. Similar to Equation (5), Equation (6) is the lin-
the proposed tri-band sensor in the time domain. The TDR ear equation obtained using curve fitting technique to calcu-
provides the impedance (|Z|) variation as a function of the late the concentration of the gas using the TDR method.
concentration of the gas to which the sensor is exposed
to. An increase in impedance has been observed when the Concentration = 8:578*ðImpedanceÞ−110:68 ð6Þ
concentration of ethanol gas absorbed is increased.
Figure 15 shows the TDR profile for TiO2 as the sensitive
layer. Equation (5) is obtained using curve fitting technique.
4.5 | Sensitivity of sensor
This equation will be helpful to calculate the concentration To measure the sensitivity of the sensor and compare
of the gas provided the change in impedance is measured responses of different materials, a variable sensor response
using TDR. using the Equation (7) is calculated.5
8 of 10 MOHAMMED ET AL.

TABLE 3 Sensitivity of the proposed microwave gas sensor frequencies. Thus, the reported sensor is enabled to calculate
the gas concentration to provide accurate results on the pres-
Sensitivity
ence and the concentration of the gas to which it is exposed
Sl. No. Frequency Layer of TiO2 Layer of ZnO to. Unlike the single frequency microwave gas sensors, the
1 f1 = 2.2 GHz 1.275 2.321 proposed sensor is more reliable. In summary, the following
2 f2 = 4.6 GHz 1.295 2.355 are claimed to be the distinct features of the proposed micro-
3 f3 = 6.3 GHz 1.30 2.374
wave sensor.
Mean sensitivity 1.29 2.35
1. Sensor performance is evaluated in three frequency
bands for quick validation of the results. The results
ΔΓ Γ gas −Γ vacuum obtained in the three frequency bands can be used to
sensor response = = ð7Þ accurately sense the gas to which the sensor is
Γ Γ vacuum
exposed.
where Γ vacuum and Γ gas are the reflection coefficients 2. The sensitivity analysis is carried out using two different
before and after the introduction of the gas, respectively. sensing medium unlike the work reported in many other
Table 3 presents the sensitivity of the proposed microwave works of literature. An effective comparison is also
sensor at three different frequencies. The average sensitivity drawn to validate the claim that ZnO offers better sens-
of the microwave resonator with TiO2 nanoparticles as the ing performance than TiO2.
sensitive layer is calculated to be 1.29 while for ZnO 3. Some statistical analysis is carried to quickly determine
nanorods it is estimated as 2.35. With the measured sensor the concentration of the ethanol gas.
response to ethanol sensing device with ZnO nanorods as a 4. The performance is evaluated in both time domain and
sensitive layer showed higher sensitivity to ethanol while frequency domain and hence more valid results are
obtained using the proposed technique.
compared to that of using TiO2 nanoparticles as a sensitive
layer.
Thus from the experiments carried out above in both time
domain and frequency domain it is evident that the proposed 5 | CONCLUSION
sensor has a higher sensitivity toward ethanol gas detection.
Table 4 compares the proposed gas sensor with other exis- This article presented the design and implementation of a
ting sensors in literature. From the table, it is evident that the microwave-based ethanol gas sensor. The two-port reso-
proposed sensor offers higher sensitivity compared to other nator with triangular split ring structures designed to
sensors reported in the literature. Also, the three frequency operate at three frequencies was designed. In single fre-
measurement using a single microwave resonator is pro- quency testing, the reaction of other gases with the sensi-
posed for the first time. The gas reaction with the sensitive tive layer affected the frequency shift which decreased
layers creates different response at low, mid and high the accuracy of measurement whereas; in triple-frequency

T A B L E 4 Performance comparison
Performance
with other sensors reported in the
Frequency literature
Ref. No. Sensitive material T in
C in GHz Sensitivity
3
Metallophthalo-cyanine 27 – 0.0150
22
Teflon 27 – 0.4000
23
Single-walled carbon nanotubes 19.5 0.1356 0.7610
(SWCNT)
5
SnO2 200-600 1-3a 0.1513
5
ZrO2 200-600 1-3a 0.3940
5 a
ZnSO4 200-600 1-3 0.2640
This work ZnO nanorods 27 2.2, 4.6, 6.3 2.35
This work TiO2 nanorods 27 2.2, 4.6, 6.3 1.29
a
The broadband measurement offers varying sensitivity throughout the bandwidth and the reliability is higher at
the upper-frequency edge.
MOHAMMED ET AL. 9 of 10

testing, the reaction of other gases with the sensitive 7. Lee H, Shaker G, Naishadham K, et al. Carbon-nanotube loaded
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10 of 10 MOHAMMED ET AL.

A U T H O R B IO G R A P H I E S
Srinithya Rapuru is an undergraduate
student in the Department of ECE,
Gulam Nabi Alsath Mohammed
SSN College of Engineering.
received his BE, ME, and PhD degrees
from Anna University Chennai in the
years 2009, 2012, and 2015, respec-
tively. He is currently serving as an
Associate Professor in the Department
Tusharika Yarasi is an undergraduate
of Electronics and Communication
student in the Department of ECE, SSN
Engineering, SSN College of Engineering, Chennai,
College of Engineering.
India. His research interests include Microwave Compo-
nents and Circuits, Antenna Engineering, Signal integrity
Analysis, and Solutions to EMI problems. To his credit,
he has filed 12 patents and published several research
articles on antennas and microwave components in lead-
Navya Dommalapati is an undergrad-
ing International Journals. He has also presented and
uate student in the Department of ECE,
published his research papers in the proceedings of Inter-
SSN College of Engineering.
national and National conferences. He is currently serv-
ing as an Associate Editor in IET Microwaves Antennas
and Propagation.

Kirubaveni Savarimuthu obtained

her BE and ME degrees from Anna
University, Chennai. She currently
serves as an Associate Professor in the
Department of ECE, SSN. She has How to cite this article: Mohammed GNA,
7 years of teaching and research experi- Savarimuthu K, Erattaiselvam V, Rapuru S, Yarasi T,
ence. Her research interests include Dommalapati N. A compact tri-band microwave
MEMS and NEMS device design and VLSI design. She resonator for ethanol gas detection. Int J RF Microw
currently involved in the growth of ZnO nanorods for Comput Aided Eng. 2019;29:e21895. https://doi.org/
piezoelectric energy harvester and gas sensor applica- 10.1002/mmce.21895
tions. She is an active life member in IETE.

Velkani Erattaiselvam is an under-

graduate student in the Department of
ECE, SSN College of Engineering.