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Abstract
Based on the experimental results, obtained by studying both structural and gas-sensing properties of the SnO2 and In2O3 films deposited by the spray pyrolysis method, we analyzed the influence of crystallite size on the parameters of the SnO2- and In2O3-based thin film solid-state gas sensors. For comparison, the behavior of ceramic-type gas sensors was considered as well. In particular, we examined the correlation between the grain size and parameters of conductometric-type gas sensors such as the magnitude of sensor signal, the rate of sensor response, thermal stability, and the sensitivity of sensor signal to air humidity. Findings confirmed that that grain size is one of the most important parameters of metal oxides, controlling almost all operating characteristics of the solid state gas sensors fabricated using both the ceramic and thin film technologies. However, it was shown that there is no single universal requirement for the grain size, because changes in grain size could either improve, or worsen of operating characteristics of gas sensors. Therefore, the choice of optimal grain size should be based on the detailed consideration of all possible consequences of their influence on the parameters of sensors designed.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors thank the Korean BK21 and Brain Pool Programs for supporting this research. This work was also supported by the World Class University (WCU) Program at the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST) through a grant (Project No. R31-20008-000-10026-0) by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MEST). The authors are also thankful to Profs. A. Cornet, J.R. Morante, V. Matolin, J.R. Stetter and J. Schwank for cooperation and useful discussions, and to Dr. M. Ivanov and I. Blinov for their help in some experiments.