Design of a low power SnO2 gas sensor integrated on silicon oxynitride membrane

Power consumption is one of the major challenges for SnO2 gas sensors. We propose a new solution using a silicon oxynitride membrane (SiOxNy), allowing a low power consumption (65 mW) at the operating temperature (450°C). Using electro-thermal simulation by finite element method (SESES™), a new design was determined with optimized size of heater and membrane area. The corresponding gas sensors were fabricated and their mechanical strength and thermal performances were correlated with FEM electro-thermal simulations.