Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology B, Vol.28, No.2, 376-379, 2010
Oxygen gas sensing at low temperature using indium zinc oxide-gated AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors
Indium zinc oxide (IZO)-gated AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) were used to detect oxygen gas. Amorphous IZO films with high carrier concentration of 10(21) cm(-3) were deposited on the gate region of the HEMTs by cosputtering from ZnO and In2O3 targets. The changes in IZO gated-AlGaN/GaN HEMT drain current were used to monitor the presence of oxygen. The IZO gated AlGaN/GaN HEMT sensors were tested with O-2 at room temperature, 50 degrees C, and 120 degrees C. There was no response to O-2 at room temperature. At 50 degrees C, the sensors could sense O-2 but gradually saturated. The sensor showed a strong response to the oxygen gas at 120 degrees C, which is a much lower temperature than with conventional oxide-based oxygen sensors that typically operate in the range of 400-700 degrees C. This enhanced oxygen sensing sensitivity was due to the amplification effect of the AlGaN/GaN HEMT. A preannealing step at 350 degrees C was also found to improve the sensitivity and response time of O-2 sensing at 120 degrees C.
Keywords:aluminium compounds;amorphous semiconductors;annealing;carrier density;gallium compounds;gas sensors;high electron mobility transistors;III-V semiconductors;II-VI semiconductors;indium compounds;oxygen;semiconductor thin films;wide band gap semiconductors;zinc compounds