Zirconium-integrated antimony-doped tin oxide thin films for efficient hydrogen gas detection at trace levels

IF 4.9 3区工程技术 Q2 ENGINEERING, ELECTRICAL & ELECTRONIC

Sensors and Actuators A-physical Pub Date : 2025-09-16 DOI:10.1016/j.sna.2025.117060

C. Sneha, Soney Varghese

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Abstract

This study presents the integration of DC-sputtered zirconium (Zr) into RF-sputtered antimony-doped tin oxide (ATO) films (ZATO, 186 nm) on SiO₂/Si substrates to enhance hydrogen detection. Varying DC power (40–80 W, 15 min) during Zr deposition enabled controlled lattice integration while maintaining the tetragonal rutile structure. The film deposited at 70 W with Zr showed optimal n-type conductivity (1.056 × 10⁻⁵ S/m), attributed to oxygen vacancies arising from ionic radius differences. This optimized film achieved a hydrogen detection limit of 0.1 ppm at 150°C, with a fast response time (30 s), a recovery time (20 s), and a response value of 1.61 %; at 10 ppm, the response reached 85.8 %. The sensor maintained its performance at 50 % R_H (13 % response at 10 ppm) and showed increased response (130 %) at a sensing temperature of 350°C. These results demonstrate that Zr/ATO co-doping is an effective strategy for detecting hydrogen at low levels.

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用于痕量氢气检测的锆集成掺锑氧化锡薄膜

本研究提出了将直流溅射锆（Zr）集成到sio2 /Si衬底上的rf溅射掺锑氧化锡（ATO）薄膜（ZATO, 186 nm）中，以增强氢检测。在Zr沉积过程中，改变直流功率（40-80 W, 15 min）可以在保持四边形金红石结构的同时控制晶格集成。Zr在70 W下沉积的薄膜表现出最佳的n型电导率（1.056 × 10−5 S/m），这是由于离子半径差异引起的氧空位。优化后的膜在150℃下的氢检测限为0.1 ppm，响应时间快（30 s），恢复时间快（20 s），响应值为1.61 %；在10 ppm时，响应率达到85.8% %。该传感器在50 % RH时保持其性能（在10 ppm时响应率为13 %），在350°C的传感温度下响应率增加（130 %）。这些结果表明，Zr/ATO共掺杂是检测低浓度氢的有效策略。

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来源期刊

Sensors and Actuators A-physical 工程技术-工程：电子与电气

CiteScore

8.10

自引率

6.50%

发文量

630

审稿时长

49 days

期刊介绍： Sensors and Actuators A: Physical brings together multidisciplinary interests in one journal entirely devoted to disseminating information on all aspects of research and development of solid-state devices for transducing physical signals. Sensors and Actuators A: Physical regularly publishes original papers, letters to the Editors and from time to time invited review articles within the following device areas: • Fundamentals and Physics, such as: classification of effects, physical effects, measurement theory, modelling of sensors, measurement standards, measurement errors, units and constants, time and frequency measurement. Modeling papers should bring new modeling techniques to the field and be supported by experimental results. • Materials and their Processing, such as: piezoelectric materials, polymers, metal oxides, III-V and II-VI semiconductors, thick and thin films, optical glass fibres, amorphous, polycrystalline and monocrystalline silicon. • Optoelectronic sensors, such as: photovoltaic diodes, photoconductors, photodiodes, phototransistors, positron-sensitive photodetectors, optoisolators, photodiode arrays, charge-coupled devices, light-emitting diodes, injection lasers and liquid-crystal displays. • Mechanical sensors, such as: metallic, thin-film and semiconductor strain gauges, diffused silicon pressure sensors, silicon accelerometers, solid-state displacement transducers, piezo junction devices, piezoelectric field-effect transducers (PiFETs), tunnel-diode strain sensors, surface acoustic wave devices, silicon micromechanical switches, solid-state flow meters and electronic flow controllers. Etc...