AlGaN/GaN Schottky diode hydrogen sensor performance at high temperatures with different catalytic metals

Abstract

Schottky diodes on AlGaN/GaN heterostructures with Pt, IrPt, and PdAg catalytic metals are fabricated and characterized from 200 °C to 800 °C for H 2 sensing. Over this large range of temperature, the forward current of all the diodes increases with exposure to H 2 gas, which is attributed to Schottky barrier height reduction caused by the atomic hydrogen absorption on the metal–oxide interface. The results indicate that AlGaN/GaN heterostructure Schottky diodes are capable of high-temperature H 2 sensor operation up to 800 °C. As temperature increases, the hydrogen detection sensitivity of Pt and IrPt diodes improves due to the more effective H 2 dissociation. However, the sensitivity of PdAg diodes degrades with the increase of temperature due to thermal instability of PdAg. At a range of temperature from 200 °C to 300 °C, PdAg diodes exhibit significant higher sensitivity compared with Pt and IrPt diodes. IrPt and Pt diodes show higher sensitivity at temperatures above 400 °C.