Patent ID: 7967964

Claim:
A single cell oxygen sensor apparatus, comprising: an sensing layer formed on a 2MgOSiO 2 substrate, wherein said sensing layer is connected to electrical terminals, such that said sensing layer is excitable by a constant current applied to said electrical terminals; a plurality of electrodes located on at least one side of said sensing layer and a plurality of heater elements located on said substrate opposite said sensing layer, wherein said plurality of heater elements maintain said sensing layer at a particular temperature; and a cavity formed between said sensing layer and said plurality of heater elements, wherein said constant current applied to said electrical terminals results in an immediate evacuation of oxygen from said cavity, thereby permitting a partial pressure of said oxygen in said cavity to be measured by halting an excitation of said constant current utilizing a fixed resistance across said electrical terminals when a voltage across said sensing layer attains a particular preset value so that a voltage across said sensing layer and ionic leakage of said oxygen through said sensing layer decreases, which permits a measurement of a voltage decay across said sensing layer to be taken and said partial pressure of said oxygen in said cavity determined with respect to a partial pressure of said oxygen in an atmosphere external to said single cell oxygen sensor apparatus.