• Michael J. Schoening
  • Juergen Schubert
  • Willi Zander
  • Mattea Mueller-Veggian
  • Andrey V. Legin
  • Yuri G. Vlasov
  • Peter Kordos
  • Hans Lueth

The application of sensitive layers for chemical microsensors consisting of multicomponent compositions and dielectric materials requires specific deposition techniques, since the different chemical and physical properties of the respective components can be significantly disturbed during the deposition process. To avoid this drawback, the pulsed laser deposition technique is suggested as a novel thin film preparation method for such sensor devices. In this process, a short ultraviolet laser pulse of high light intensity is used in order to vaporize material from a target and deposit thin film layers onto a substrate in a vacuum chamber. Depending on the broad spectrum of wavelengths as well as on the pulse energy, this process can be employed for a large variety of compounds: pH-sensitive layers on the basis of Al2O3 have been prepared as well as chalcogenide-based layers that are suitable for the heavy metal detection. The pH sensors, consisting of Al/p-Si/SiO2/Al2O3 heterostructures, are highly stable in the long term and possess a nearly Nernstian pH sensitivity of about 56 mV/pH. The chalcogenide glass layers have been deposited onto p-Si/Cr/Au and p-Si/Ti/Pt substrates, respectively. Depending on the glass materials used, these potentiometric thin film sensors show also a high, nearly Nernstian sensitivity of about 25 mV/pPb and 29 mV/pCu, respectively.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)124-134
Number of pages11
JournalProceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering
Volume3857
StatePublished - 1 Dec 1999
EventProceedings of the 1999 Chemical Microsensors and Applications II - Boston, MA, USA
Duration: 19 Sep 199920 Sep 1999

    Scopus subject areas

  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering
  • Condensed Matter Physics

ID: 30518040