NO 2 sensitive Au gate metal–oxide–semiconductor capacitors

Abstract

Au gate metal-oxide-semiconductor capacitors are sensitive to NO2 in air up to 200 ppm, depending on operating temperature (100 °C to 200 °C), gate thickness (50 to 900 nm), and morphology. In the absence of catalytic properties or lattice diffusivity, a model invoking molecular surface adsorption and grain boundary diffusion is proposed, which quantitatively describes the transient and steady state response of the devices. Sensitivity is given by the arrival of the diffusing species to the gate–dielectric interface, where capacitive coupling of the adsorbed molecules induces work function changes, which shift the flat band voltage positively, opposite that observed for H2 with Pd gates, consistently with an oxidizing, rather than reducing, character.