Effects of Ta/Nb-doping on titania-based thin films for gas-sensing

Thin films of titania with the addition of niobium and tantalum have been achieved by reactive sputtering process. Structural and morphological studies have been carried out by means of XRD, RBS, TEM and AFM in order to correlate the microstructural features to the sensing performance of the layers. The films proved sensitive to ethanol and carbon monoxide and ammonia. In the case of niobium addition, it was shown that annealing temperature and niobium content strongly influence the gas response of the films converting a n-type response, which is typical of pure TiO2 and of most of metal-oxide sensors, to a p-type response; this peculiarity is crucial for the discrimination of different gases. In the case of tantalum addition, the annealing treatment at 800 °C led only to a phase transformation that reduced the sensing performance of the layer. High sensitivity to CO is achieved with anatase or mixed anatase and rutile phases, while the rutile phase only exhibit a low gas sensitivity.