Unidirectional sensing characteristics of structured Au–GaN–Pt diodes for differential-pair hydrogen sensors

A new metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) hydrogen sensor was proposed to avoid (or to reduce) false alarms due to temperature drift when it is used in differential-pair hydrogen-sensing systems. A GaN semiconductor layer together with Pt as catalytic metal and Au as Schottky metal was employed to structure an Au–GaN–Pt MSM sensor. In particular, the structured Au–GaN–Pt MSM sensor can function as an active sensor and a reference sensor, depending on the polarity of applied voltage, in a differential-pair sensing circuit. Possible sensing mechanisms associated with the Au–GaN–Pt MSM sensor were described first to include band diagrams and graphical analysis. Experimental results reveal that an active sensor by forward-biasing the Au–GaN–Pt MSM sensor responses well to hydrogen-containing gases (50, 500, and 5000 ppm H2/N2) at various temperatures (25 °C, 50 °C, 70 °C, and 90 °C). High sensing current gains over 104 were obtained. Further, the Au–GaN–Pt MSM sensor can also be reverse-biased to act as a reference sensor which shows negligible responses to hydrogen-containing gases. The differential-pair sensing circuit with the proposed Au–GaN–Pt MSM sensor reduces false alarms due to ambient temperature variation while it provides a short detection time.