A novel wide-band-gap semiconductor based microelectronic gas sensor

Summary form only given. A wide-band-gap semiconductor, high temperature tolerant microelectronic gas sensor of diamond has been developed for oxygen, hydrogen and CO gas detection. This new device has been fabricated in the form of catalyst-adsorptive oxide(Pt-SnO/sub x/)/i(intrinsic)-diamond/p+(doped)diamond, representing a CAIS device structure. The key elements in this structure are SnO/sub x/ as a gas sensitive layer and PECVD (plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposited) diamond for high temperature operations. The major advantages of using diamond based structures with SnO/sub x/ for gas sensing are higher operating temperature range, higher gas sensitivity and selectivity, reliable sensing performance in harsh environments, simplicity in fabrication process, compatibility with silicon microfabrication technology, and cost efficiency.