Deposition and gas sensing properties of tin oxide thin films by inductively coupled plasma chemical vapor deposition

Tin oxide thin films have been deposited by a custom-designed inductively coupled plasma chemical vapor deposition (ICP-CVD) system in order to explore its application as an alternative approach for thin film gas sensor preparation. The as-deposited SnO₂ films were of polycrystalline structure with nano-size grains of 12 nm. The SnO₂ films exhibited a maximum sensitivity of 43 to 1000 ppm H₂ at an optimum operating temperature of 350^∘C. The response time of the SnO₂ films was 12 s and full recovery was achievable.