Abstract Multi-gate field effect transistors (FETs) based on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) have been popular for several decades due to their improved electrostatic control of the channel current between the source and the drain. Chemical sensors based on such multi-gate FET platform can leverage this improved electrostatic control to detect gases at very low concentration with ultrahigh sensitivity. Electrostatically formed nanowire (EFN) is a multiple-gate FET device which has proven to be an excellent platform for detecting volatile organic compounds and gases. In case of such multi-gate FET sensors, it is imperative to rigorously understand the influence of each gate in controlling the sensing performances. Using palladium nanoparticles decorated EFN (Pd-EFN) as an example, the current work presents a detailed methodology for determining the operating parameters for maximal sensing performances of the Pd-EFN sensor towards hydrogen sensing. We observed that a single operating point does not yield best results with regard to sensor response, dynamic range, and power efficiency. By optimising the operating points (by varying the different gate biases), a sensor response of 107 % was reached even at low concentrations of hydrogen (500 ppm) which is significantly lower than the lower explosive limit of 4% and a tunable dynamic range over three decades (4-8000 ppm) was obtained. Also, the sensor response was not compromised at low driving voltages (100 mV) thus contributing to low power consumption of the sensor. Such a correlation between the working point of the transistor and the various sensor performance metrics (maximum sensor response, dynamic range etc ) has not been studied before to the best of our knowledge and this study can be extended to EFN for other gases and any other multi-gate FET sensors (not limited to Si based sensors).This study can pave the way for effective design of future multi-gate transistors for gas sensing.
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