Semiconductor gas sensor based on tin oxide nanorods prepared by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition with postplasma treatment

Abstract

SnO 2 thin films were deposited by radio-frequency inductively coupled plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition. Postplasma treatments were used to modify the microstructure of the as-deposited SnO2 thin films. Uniform nanorods with dimension of ∅7×100nm were observed in the plasma-treated films. After plasma treatments, the optimal operating temperature of the plasma-treated SnO2 thin films decreased by 80 °C, while the gas sensitivity increased eightfold. The enhanced gas sensing properties of the plasma-treated SnO2 thin film were believed to result from the large surface-to-volume ratio of the nanorods’ tiny grain size in the scale comparable to the space-charge length and its unique microstructure of SnO2 nanorods rooted in SnO2 thin films.

Plasma‐Assisted Approaches in Inorganic Nanostructure Fabrication

“…[207][208][209] The treating power was 1.2 kW. As the treatment proceeded, a transition from a dense thin film with a columnar structure to nanorods was observed.…”

“…Some important plasma effects such as etching and sputtering, ion bombardment, and catalyst-mediated growth appear in both substratesurface-dominated PECVD [47,49,50,61,79,83,[211][212][213][214] and plasma treatment. [202][203][204][205][207][208][209][210]225] The growth flux from the plasma may add some complications. [211][212][213] The PECVD process with nanoparticles formed in the plasma phase shares similarities with the thermal plasma processing of liquid and solid precursors.…”

Nano-Structured Ceramics by Gas-Phase Reaction

“…Recently, lowdimensional nanostructures such as nanobelts (2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8) and nanowires (4, 6, 9-12) of functional oxides have become the focus of intense research due to their fundamental physical properties and their potential for integration into devices such as field effect transistors and sensors (2,6,(12)(13)(14)(15). One of the most common ways to produce large quantities of nanostructures is with vapor phase synthesis.…”

Fabrication of H2Gas Sensor Based on ZnO Nanarod Arrays by a Sonochemical Method

“…[1][2][3] Zinc oxide (ZnO) gas sensors based on various forms such as thin-films, heterojunctions, nanoscale particles, and one-dimensional (1D) nanomaterials have been studied.…”