Selectivity semiconducting sensors

Metal oxide semiconductive sensors are not limited to tin oxide only. Many other metal oxides, such as zinc oxide, tungsten oxide, and others can also be used for chemical and gas sensing. It is understandable that an incorporation of a selective catalyst or a dopant may enhance the selectivity of the MOS sensors. Palladium, platinum, and others have been used as catalytic dopants for these sensors. The processes... 

One current-based approach is referred to as impedancemetric sensing [32]. This is based on impedance spectroscopy, in which a cyclic voltage is applied to the electrode and an analysis of the resultant electrical current is used to determine the electrode impedance. As different processes have different characteristic frequencies, impedance spectroscopy can be used to identify and separate contributions from different processes, such as electron transfer at the interface from solid-state electronic conduction. The frequency range ofthe applied voltage in impedancemetric sensors is selected so that the measured impedance is related to the electrode reaction, rather than to transport in the electrode or electrolyte material. Thus, the response is different from that in resistance-based sensors, which are related to changes in the electrical conductivity of a semiconducting material in response to changes in the gas composition. 

The poor stability of some semiconducting polymers and their sensitivity to external factors often make it difficult to deduce true intrinsic properties of a certain material [101,102]. Most commonly, the off-currents in a TFT are governed by extrinsic factors and it also has an impact on subthreshold slope, threshold voltages, and bias stress. In fact, this sensitivity prompted some researchers to use OSC materials as gas and chemical sensors in TFT devices [103,104]. The observed selective sensitivity is related either to the chemical nature of the semiconductor functionalities or the interaction of the grain... 

Kanan, S.M., El-Kadri, O.M., Abu-Yousef, LA., and Kanan, M.C. 2009. Semiconducting metal oxide based sensors for selective gas pollutant detection. Sensors 9 8158-8196. 

A polymer sensor is a particular type of transistor where a sensor material is in contact with the dielectric gate, the dielectric layer or the semiconductive layer. The sensor responds to the presence of an analyte by selectively adsorbing it and then inducing a change in the channel conductivity through an electrostatic field effect (34). 

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