It is clear that without sensors, there would be no Internet of Things. But what is not so clear, is how the sense of smell will become as commoditized as sight, sound, and feel. The MEMs and Semiconductor industries have been highly successful in developing low cost sensors to recognize shapes, sounds and movement, but in the field of olfactory science, we are just beginning to produce relevant components, and not too soon. The need to monitor indoor and outdoor air quality, as well supporting the emerging field of metabolomics has recently put pressure on the industry to develop solid state solutions on par with existing MEMs devices. In order to qualify gas sensors on the same level as the aforementioned devices, the e-nose sensor needs to become cost effective, robust, readily programmable for a wide variety of chemical compounds, and operate at very low power. The industry’s defacto standard, MOX sensors, can not meet all these criteria. Carbon Nanotube Sensors have been demonstrated next generation properties in Research Labs for years, but have been unable to scale, until now. ASI has demonstrated a CMOS compatible fabrication process that enables a wide ranging platform to address these emerging markets. Challenges and opportunities still remain, including low cost packaging solutions for the many applications within IoT. This paper will present an overview of the e-nose market, the benefits of CNT sensors, and the opportunities for innovation in the area of packaging.

Biography: Mr. Lerner has over 30 years of technical and business development experience in the IT sector, most notably in microelectronics manufacturing and materials development. He has served in senior management positions in both large and small organizations throughout Europe, the United States and several SE Asian countries. As CEO and MD of Alchimer SA, and Amkor Europe respectively, he performed classic European turn-arounds in the advanced packaging space. He has also been responsible for intrapreneurial and entrepreneurial projects around the world, including a 34X oversubscribed IPO with OSAT CS2. He is currently Founder and CEO of Alpha Szenszor Inc., a gas sensor start-up leveraging the unique properties of Carbon Nanotubes, based in Burlington, MA. He obtained a BSME from SUNY at Stony Brook and has worked as a back-end manufacturing and packaging engineer at numerous multinationals before moving into executive roles.