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Unusual high sensitivity in highly oriented laser ablated thin films of SnO2 on (1102) sapphire and (100) LaAlO3

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 April 2002

K. I. Gnanasekar ,
B. Rambabu  and
K. C. Langry
K. I. Gnanasekar
Affiliation:
Surface Science, Spectroscopy and Solid State Ionics Laboratory, Department of Physics, Southern University A&M College, Bâton Rouge, Louisiana 70813, USA
B. Rambabu*
Affiliation:
Surface Science, Spectroscopy and Solid State Ionics Laboratory, Department of Physics, Southern University A&M College, Bâton Rouge, Louisiana 70813, USA
K. C. Langry
Affiliation:
Chemical and Biological Detection Group, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94550, USA
*
Rambabu@grant.phys.subr.edu
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Abstract

A systematic investigation on growth and sensor characteristics of SnO2 thin films of different orientations is reported for the first time. Thin films were grown by pulsed laser (KrF; λ = 248 nm) ablation technique under in-situ conditions. Films deposited at 525 °C on (1102) sapphire were predominantly (101) orientated whereas those deposited on (100) LaAlO3 were highly a-axis orientated. Sensors made of predominantly (101) oriented films exhibited more than two orders magnitude change in resistance even for 100 ppm of H2 in air at 310 °C. The response and retracing times of the sensor were remarkably short respectively 30 and 200 s. Sensors made of a-axis oriented films also exhibited similar sensitivity and response time for the same quantity of both H2 and LPG. However, the retrace time was very long typically about 20 min. Atomic force microscopic (AFM) investigation reveals that the films are highly granular with an average size of about 100–150 nm which is ten times larger than the critical size of 6 nm, a criterion required for high sensitivity. (The Debye length of ${\rm SnO}_2 \cong 3.07$ nm at 293 K and the critical grain size is therefore 2 × Debye length, which is 6 nm.)

Keywords

Type
Research Article
Information
The European Physical Journal - Applied Physics , Volume 18 , Issue 1 , April 2002 , pp. 9 - 15
Copyright
© EDP Sciences, 2002

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