Hydrogen is predicted to be the main energy source of the future. As it is undetectable to the human senses, however, and can build an explosive mixture in air over a wide range of concentrations (4 - 74 vol%), there is an increasing need to detect hydrogen by using sensors. This work deals with the development of a hydrogen sensor which fulfils following demands: small, cheap, low energy consumption, wide operational temperature range, measurement range between 100 ppm and 4 vol% H2. A Hybrid Suspended Gate Field-Effect Transistor (HSGFET) is used as the sensor. Such a HSGFET is one of the class of field-effect sensors in which the gas-induced work function change of a sensitive layer is used to detect gases. It is termed a MAIS-device (Metal-Air-gap-Insulator-Semiconductor) as this sensor has an air-gap between the gate and the FET. The gas sensitive layer is deposited on the bottom of the gate, facing towards the FET. The big advantage of this construction is the free access to the gas sensitive interface without necessity of gas diffusion. In addition to the development and characterization of a suitable hydrogen sensitive layer, a H2FET will be built, characterized and its functionality demonstrated. In order to find a proper gas sensitive material, iridium, palladium, platinum as well as iridium modified with a thin layer of platinum (IrPt) and palladium alloys (PdAg, PdNi) will be investigated. Deposited as thin layers on a substrate (highly doped p-silicon), the sensitivity, selectivity and stability of the materials will be tested by means of a Kelvin-probe and a so-called LaborFET in relation to hydrogen and other relevant cross-gases (NO2, CO2, CO, NH3, Cl2). The experiments reveal that platinum, together with a thin titanium buffer-layer between the sensor layer and the substrate (TiPt), is the most suitable gas-sensitive system: It shows no gas-induced change to its surface morphology, reacts very quickly (t90-times of about 10 seconds) and fully reversible to hydrogen even at room temperature. Furthermore, platinum is insensitive to the cross-gases and no poisoning was found. The titanium buffer-layer avoids Schottky-contacts between the platinum and the substrate, is stabilizing the sensor baseline and improving the adhesion of the platinum on the base. Additionally, the velocity and temperature dependence was found to be strongly influenced by the surface morphology of the platinum. The respective results will be shown and discussed. A H2FET were built up in order to demonstrate the feasibility of such a device. For this purpose, a micromechanical structured gate was coated with TiPt. Afterwards, the gate was adjusted and mounted to a FET by means of a flip-chip-bonder and gluing. This H2FET has shown its functionality as a hydrogen sensor at low temperatures and in humid atmosphere in combination with an energy consumption of some �W. As only semiconductor industry standard methods and materials were used to build up the H2FET, this device is expected to have a high potential for low priced industrial production.
«Hydrogen is predicted to be the main energy source of the future. As it is undetectable to the human senses, however, and can build an explosive mixture in air over a wide range of concentrations (4 - 74 vol%), there is an increasing need to detect hydrogen by using sensors. This work deals with the development of a hydrogen sensor which fulfils following demands: small, cheap, low energy consumption, wide operational temperature range, measurement range between 100 ppm and 4 vol% H2. A Hybrid S...
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