posted on 2011-07-01, 16:10authored byKhalil Arshak, Ger Hickey, Edward Forde, John A. Harris
Thin films of Indium-zinc-tin oxide have been
prepared by Vacuum Thermal Evaporation (VTE). The sensing characteristics of these films to environmentally relevant ozone concentrations were studied at room temperature. The effects of
film thickness, deposition rate and annealing were investigated.
The resistance of the thin film was found to be inversely proportional to the deposition rate. The highest sensitivity of the ozone sensors was found at a deposition rate of 1.2 nm/s - 1.4
nm/s. In addition the 03 sensors were found to perform best with a 40 nm thick sensing layer. In203, ZnO and SnO2 were deposited on alumina substrates containing interdigitated electrodes by
means of VTE. These results have shown that ln203:ZnO:SnO2 thin films prepared by VTE method are promising for room temperature ozone sensing.