A macroporous TiO2 oxygen sensor fabricated using anodic aluminium oxide as an etching mask.
An innovative fabrication method to produce a macroporous Si surface by employing an anodic aluminium oxide (AAO) nanopore array layer as an etching template is presented. Combining AAO with a reactive ion etching (RIE) processes, a homogeneous and macroporous silicon surface can be effectively configured by modulating AAO process parameters and alumina film thickness, thus hopefully replacing conventional photolithography and electrochemical etch methods. The hybrid process integration is considered fully CMOS compatible thanks to the low-temperature AAO and CMOS processes. The gas-sensing characteristics of 50 nm TiO(2) nanofilms deposited on the macroporous surface are compared with those of conventional plain (or non-porous) nanofilms to verify reduced response noise and improved sensitivity as a result of their macroporosity. Our experimental results reveal that macroporous geometry of the TiO(2) chemoresistive gas sensor demonstrates 2-fold higher (∼33%) improved sensitivity than a non-porous sensor at different levels of oxygen exposure. In addition, the macroporous device exhibits excellent discrimination capability and significantly lessened response noise at 500 °C. Experimental results indicate that the hybrid process of such miniature and macroporous devices are compatible as well as applicable to integrated next generation bio-chemical sensors.
Institute of Mechtronic Engineering, National Taipei University of Technology, Taipei 106, Taiwan. cclu23@ntut.edu.tw
Chih-Cheng
CC
Lu
Yong-Sheng
YS
Huang
Jun-Wei
JW
Huang
Chien-Kuo
CK
Chang
Sheng-Po
SP
Wu
D000537:Aluminum Oxide / Q000737:chemistry*; D004566:Electrodes; D004595:Electroplating / Q000295:instrumentation*; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D010092:Oximetry / Q000295:instrumentation*; D010100:Oxygen / Q000032:analysis*; D016062:Porosity; D014025:Titanium / Q000737:chemistry*; D014159:Transducers
C009495:titanium dioxide; D014025:Titanium; D000537:Aluminum Oxide; D010100:Oxygen