Gas sensors based on metal-oxide-semiconductor transistor with the polysilicon gate replaced by a gas sensitive thin film have been around for over 50 years. These are not suitable for the emerging mobile and wearable sensor platforms due to operating voltages and powers far exceeding the supply capability of batteries. Here we present a novel approach to decouple the chemically sensitive region from the conducting channel for reducing the drive voltage and increasing reliability. This chemically gated field effect transistor uses silicon nanowire for the current conduction channel with a tin oxide film on top of the nanowire serving as the gas sensitive medium. The potential change induced by the molecular adsorption and desorption allows the electrically floating tin oxide film to gate the silicon channel. As the device is designed to be normally off, the power is consumed only during the gas sensing event. This feature is attractive for the battery operated sensor and wearable electronics. In addition, the decoupling of the chemical reaction and the current conduction regions allows the gas sensitive material to be free from electrical stress, thus increasing reliability. The device shows excellent gas sensitivity to the tested analytes relative to conventional metal oxide transistors and resistive sensors.
Keywords: field effect transistor; gas sensor; nanowire; thin film; tin oxide.