Characterization of Hydrogen Gas Sensitivity of ZnO Thin Films

ZnO thin films were prepared on a glass substrate by radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering without intentional substrate heating and then surfaces of the ZnO films were irradiated with intense electrons in vacuum condition to investigate the effect of electron bombardment on crystallization, surface roughness, morphology and hydrogen gas sensitivity. In XRD pattern, as deposited ZnO films show a higher ZnO (002) peak intensity. However, the peak intensity for ZnO (002) is decreased with increase of electron bombarding energy. Atomic force microscope images show that surface morphology is also dependent on electron bombarding energy. The surface roughness increases due to intense electron bombardment as high as 2.7 nm. The observed optical transmittance means that the films irradiated with intense electron beams at 900 eV show lower transmittance than the others due to their rough surfaces. In addition, ZnO films irradiated by the electron beam at 900 eV show higher hydrogen gas sensitivity than the films that were electron beam irradiated at 450 eV. From XRD pattern and atomic force microscope observations, it is supposed that intense electron bombardment promotes a rough surface due to the intense bombardments and increased gas sensitivity of ZnO films for hydrogen gas. These results suggest that ZnO films irradiated with intense electron beams are promising for practical high performance hydrogen gas sensors.

고감도 ZnO 박막센서의 수소가스 검출 특성 연구