• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.325-329
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• 2009

Titanium dioxide thin films were fabricated as hydrogen sensors and its sensing properties were tested. The titanium was deposited on a $SiO_2$/Si substrate by the DC magnetron sputtering method and was oxidized at an optimized temperature of $850^{\circ}C$ in air. The titanium film originally had smooth surface morphology, but the film agglomerated to nano-size grains when the temperature reached oxidation temperature where it formed titanium oxide with a rutile structure. The oxide thin film formed by grains of tens of nanometers size also showed many short cracks and voids between the grains. The response to 1% hydrogen gas was ${\sim}2{\times}10^6$ at the optimum sensing temperature of $200^{\circ}C$, and ${\sim}10^3$ at room temperature. This extremely high sensitivity of the thin film to hydrogen was due partly to the porous structure of the nano-sized sensing particles. Other sensor properties were also examined.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.10-14
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• 2015

This paper reports the results of a study on the optimization of the etching profile, which is an important factor in deep-reactive-ion etching (DRIE), i.e., dry etching. Dry etching is the key processing step necessary for the development of the Internet of Things (IoT) and various microelectromechanical sensors (MEMS). Large-area etching (open area > 20%) under a high-frequency (HF) condition with nonoptimized processing parameters results in damage to the etched sidewall. Therefore, in this study, optimization was performed under a low-frequency (LF) condition. The HF method, which is typically used for through-silicon via (TSV) technology, applies a high etch rate and cannot be easily adapted to processes sensitive to sidewall damage. The optimal etching profile was determined by controlling various parameters for the DRIE of a large Si wafer area (open area > 20%). The optimal processing condition was derived after establishing the correlations of etch rate, uniformity, and sidewall damage on a 6-in Si wafer to the parameters of coil power, run pressure, platen power for passivation etching, and $SF_6$ gas flow rate. The processing-parameter-dependent results of the experiments performed for optimization of the etching profile in terms of etch rate, uniformity, and sidewall damage in the case of large Si area etching can be summarized as follows. When LF is applied, the platen power, coil power, and $SF_6$ should be low, whereas the run pressure has little effect on the etching performance. Under the optimal LF condition of 380 Hz, the platen power, coil power, and $SF_6$ were set at 115W, 3500W, and 700 sccm, respectively. In addition, the aforementioned standard recipe was applied as follows: run pressure of 4 Pa, $C_4F_8$ content of 400 sccm, and a gas exchange interval of $SF_6/C_4F_8=2s/3s$.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.309-316
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• 2006

The $SnO_{2}$ thin film sensors were fabricated by a thermal oxidation method. $SnO_{2}$ thin film sensors were treated in $N_{2}$ atmosphere. The sensors with $O_{2}$ treatment after $N_{2}$ treatment showed 70 % sensitivity for 1 ppm $H_{2}S$ gas, which is higher than the sensors with only $O_{2}$ treatment. The Ni metal was evaporated on Sn thin film on the $Al_{2}O_{3}$ substrate. And the sensor was heated to grow the Sn nanowire in the tube furnace with $N_{2}$ atmosphere. Sn nanowire was thermally oxidized in $O_{2}$ environments. The sensitivity of $SnO_{2}$ nanowire sensor was measured at 500 ppb $H_{2}S$ gas. The selectivity of $SnO_{2}$ nanowire sensor compared with thin film and thick film $SnO_{2}$ was measured for $H_{2}S$, CO, and $NH_{3}$ in this study.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2004.05a
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• pp.85-85
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• 2004

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.108-117
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• 2001

A sensor array with 10 discrete sensors integrated on a substrate w3s developed for discriminating the kinds and quantities of inflammable gases, like butane, propane, methane, LPG, carbon monoxide. The sensor array consisted of 10 metal oxide semiconductor gas sensors using the nano-sized $SnO_2$ as base material and had differentiated sensitivity patterns to specific gas. The sensor array was designed with uniform thermal distribution and had also high sensitivity and good reproductivity to low gas concentration through nano-sized sensing materials with different additives. By using the sensing patterns of the sensor array at $400^{\circ}C$, we could reliably discriminate the kinds and quantities of the tested inflammable gases under the lower explosion limit through the principal component analysis(PCA).

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.399-406
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• 2020

Pd nanogap hydrogen sensors were developed using an elastomeric substrate and operated through an on-off mechanism. A 10 nm thick Pd thin film was formed on a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) substrate, and 50% of the physical strain was applied in the longitudinal direction to fabricated uniform nanogaps. The initial concentration of the hydrogen gas for the PDMS/Pd films was controlled, and subsequently, the on-off switching response was measured. We found that the average nanogap was less than 50 nm, and the Pd nanogap hydrogen sensors operated over a wide range of temperatures. In particular, the sensors work properly even at a very low temperature of -40℃ with a fast response time of 2 s. In addition, we have investigated the relative humidity and annealing effects.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.25 no.8
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• pp.639-645
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• 2012

Embossed $TiO_2$ thin films with high surface areas are achieved using soft-templates composed of monolayer polystyrene beads. The form of links between the beads in the templates is controlled by varying the $O_2$ plasma etching time on the templates, resulting in various templates with close-linked, nano-linked, and isolated beads. Room-temperature deposition of $TiO_2$ on the plasma-treated templates and calcination at $550^{\circ}C$ result in embossed films with tailored links between anatase $TiO_2$ hollow hemispheres. Although all the embossed films have similar surface areas, the sensitivity of films with nano-linked $TiO_2$ hollow hemispheres to 500 ppm CO and ethanol gases are much higher than that of films with close-linked and isolated hollow hemispheres, and the detection limits of them are as low as 0.6 ppm for CO and 0.1 ppm for ethanol. The strong correlation of sensitivity with the form of links between hollow hemispheres reveals the critical role of potential barriers formed at the links. The facile, large-scale, and on-chip fabrication of embossed $TiO_2$ films with nano-linked hollow hemispheres on Si substrate and the high sensitivity without the aid of additives give us a sustainable competitive advantage over various methods for the fabrication of highly sensitive $TiO_2$-based sensors.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.63-68
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• 2005

The nano-grained Pd or Pt-doped $SnO_{2}$ thin films were deposited on the alumina substrate at ambient temperature or $300^{\circ}C$ by using an R.F. magnetron sputtering system and then annealed at $650^{\cir}C$ for 1 hour or 4 hours in air. The crystallinity and microstructure of the annealed films were analyzed. A grain size of the thin films was 30 nm to 50 nm. As a result of gas sensitivity measurements to an alcohol vapor of $36^{\circ}C$, the 2 wt.% Pt-doped $SnO_{2}$ thin-film sensor deposited at $300^{\circ}C$ and annealed at $650^{\circ}C$ for 4 hours showed the highest sensitivity.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.515-523
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• 2015

In this paper, we fabricated and evaluated the gas sensor for the detection of CO gas and $NO_X$ gas among the vehicle exhaust emission gasses. The $SnO_2$ (tin dioxide) layer is used as the detection material, and the thin-film type and the nano-fiber type layers are deposited with various thicknesses using sputtering method and electro spinning method, respectively. The experiments are performed in the chamber where the gas concentration is controlled with mass flow controller. The fabricated devices are applied to the CO and $NO_X$ gas, where the device with the thinner $SnO_2$ layer shows better sensitivity. The nano-fiber has the larger surface area, and the shorter response time and recovery time are obtained. From the experimental results, both types of gas sensors successfully detect CO and $NO_X$ gases, which can be applied to measure those gases from the vehicle emissions.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.462-468
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• 2010

A low power gas sensor with microheater was fabricated by MEMS technology. In order to heat up the gas sensing material to a operating temperature, a platinum(Pt) micro heater was built on to the micromachined Si substrate. The width and gap of microheater were $20\;{\mu}m$ and $4.5\;{\mu}m$, respectively. ZnO nanowhisker arrays were fabricated on a sensor device by hydrothermal method. The sensor device was deposited with ZnO seeds using PLD systems. A 200 ml aqueous solution of 0.1 mol zinc nitrate hexahydrate, 0.1 mol hexamethylenetetramine, and 0.02 mol polyethylenimine was used for growthing ZnO nanowhiskers. The power consumption to heat up the gas sensor to a operating temperature was measured and temperature distribution of sensor was analyzed by a Infrared Thermal Camera. The optimum temperature for highest sensitivity was found to be $250^{\circ}C$ although relatively high(64 %) sensitivity was obtained even at as low as $150^{\circ}C$. The power consumption was 72 mW at $250^{\circ}C$ and was only 25 mW at $150^{\circ}C$.