RESUMEN
The ion beam induced modified gallium doped ZnO thin films are studied for their gas sensing applications. The Ag9+ and Si6+ irradiated gallium doped zinc oxide thin films were exposed to various concentrations of ethanol and acetone gas for gas sensing applications. The Ag9+ ion irradiated Ga-doped ZnO thin was optimized at different operating temperature. It was observed that gas sensing response for both ethanol and acetone gas increases with increasing Ag9+ ion fluence. This indicates that the swift heavy ions have improved the sensitivity of Ga-doled ZnO thin film by reducing the particle size. The Si6+ ion irradiated Ga-doped ZnO thin films were also exposed to ethanol and acetone gas for gas sensing applications. In comparison to Ag9+ ion irradiated thin film, the film irradiated with Si6+ ion beam exhibits a greater sensing response to both ethanol and acetone gas.
RESUMEN
The high thermal conductivity, high electron mobility, the direct wide band gap, and large exciton binding energy of zinc oxide (ZnO) make it appropriate for a wide range of device applications like light-emitting diodes, photodetectors, laser diodes, transparent thin-film transistors, and so forth. Among the semiconductor metal oxides, zinc oxide (ZnO) is one of the most commonly used gas-sensing materials. The gas sensor made of nanocomposite ZnO and Ga-doped ZnO (ZnO:Ga) thin films was developed by the sol-gel spin coating method. The gas sensitivity of gallium-doped ZnO thin films annealed at 400, 700, and 900 °C was studied for ethanol and acetone gases. The variation of electrical resistance of gallium-doped ZnO thin films with exposure of ethanol and acetone vapors at different concentrations was estimated. Ga:ZnO thin films annealed at 700 °C show the highest sensitivity and shortest response and recovery time for both ethanol and acetone gases. This study reveals that the 5 at. % Ga-doped ZnO thin film annealed at 700 °C has the best sensing property in comparison to the film annealed at 400 and 900 °C. The sensing response of ZnO:Ga thin films was found higher for ethanol gas in comparison to acetone gas.