Ethanol vapour detector based in porous a-Si:H films produced by HW-CVD technique

In this work, we show the possibility to use undoped porous silicon (PS) thin films produced by hot wire chemical vapour deposition technique (HW-CVD) as ethanol detector. Silicon thins films produced by HW-CVD technique, under certain deposition conditions, have a porous structure [Vacuum 52 (1999) 147]. Therefore, in the presence of an alcohol, the OH group is adsorbed by the uncompensated bonds behaving as donor-like carriers leading to an increase in the current flowing through the material. This current enhancement is bias dependent in glass/ITO/i-a-Si:H/Al sensor and increases as the ethanol vapour pressure increases from 10−1 mbar to atmospheric pressure. The response time of the current of the sensor and its recovery time are in the range of 10–50 s at room temperature. Ethanol quantities above 50 ppm can be detected.