On the sensitivity, selectivity, sensory information and optimal size of resistive chemical sensors

Information theoretical tools are applied for the study of the sensitivity and selectivity enhancements of resistive fluctuation-enhanced sensors. General considerations are given for the upper limit of selectivity enhancement. The signal-to-noise ratio and information channel capacity of fluctuation-enhanced chemical sensors is compared to that of classical sensors providing a single output. The considerations are done at the generic level with a few concrete examples and include the estimation of scaling relations between the sensor size, speed of measurements, sampling rate, measurement time, signal power and noise power.