Multimode Detection of Hydrogen Gas Using Palladium-Covered Silicon (mu)-Channels

Palladium was electrodeposited onto lithographically patterned Si(100) "(mu)-channels" with dimensions of 2 (mu)m (width) × 100 (mu)m (length). The properties of these Pd-covered Si (mu)-channels for detecting dihydrogen gas were then evaluated. Pd electrodeposition was carried out under conditions favoring an instantaneous nucleation and growth mechanism. This strategy produced size-similar Pd particles at a coverage of (4-6) × 10^9 cm^-2 within the confines of the Si (mu)-channel. When the mean particle radius, ro, was smaller than a critical value (ro < rc = 70-85 nm), each Pd particle was well separated on the surface from adjacent particles, on average, and no response to H2 gas attributable to the (mu)-channel was observed. As Pd particles were grown larger, to a mean radius of ro ~~rc, adjacent particles on the surface touched and the electrical resistance of the (mu)-channel dropped by several orders of magnitude. These "type 2" H2 sensors exhibited a rapid (<1 s), reversible decrease in their resistance in response to exposure to H2 above 0.5%, but a minimum resistance was observed at 1-2%, and a resistance increase was seen at higher H2 concentration. This complex behavior resulted from the existence of three mechanisms for charge transport across the (mu)-channel. If still larger quantities of Pd were deposited, the Pd particle ensemble coalesced into an electrically continuous film. These "type 3" sensors became more resistive in the presence of H2, not more conductive as seen for sensors of types 1 and 2, but the amplitude of this response was smaller than seen for type 2 sensors.