THE SELECTIVITY OF UV-LIGHT ACTIVATED METAL OXIDE SEMICONDUCTOR GAS SENSORS MANIFESTED BY TWO COMPETING REDOX PROCESSES

Abstract

The selectivity mechanism of the UV-light activated metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) gas sensors was studied. A reaction model based on two competing redox processes was presented to solve the selectivity problem. A concept named dynamic equilibrium of adsorbed oxygen concentration was brought about in this model and two reaction responses were discussed: (1) when most of the MOS surface is adsorbed with oxygen, the resistance of the MOS gas sensor will decrease upon the injection of reducing agents (RAs); (2) when most of the MOS surface is not adsorbed with oxygen, the resistance of the MOS gas sensor will increase upon the injection of RAs. Finally, experiments were conducted on ZnO MOS gas sensors to prove the proposed hypothesis of the reaction mechanism.