Highly sensitive humidity sensor using Pd/porous GaAs Schottky contact

This paper investigates the suitability of porous GaAs as a semiconductor material for sensing humidity. The authors have developed two types of sensors based on Pd/porous GaAs and Pd/GaAs Schottky contacts for humidity measurements. It was found that the porosity on GaAs wafer promoted the sensing properties of the contact used as highly sensitive humidity sensor toward different amounts of relative humidity operated at room temperature. On the contrary, the Pd/GaAs sample operated at room temperature exhibited negligible sensitivity to relative humidity. The advantages of using porous GaAs for Schottky humidity sensor are the following: high sensitivity, low response time, and insignificant dependence on temperature. Current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of the Pd/porous GaAs Schottky humidity sensor exhibited a saturation current value of 8.5 x 10(-10) A under dry condition (5% relative humidity). This was increased to 7.0 x 10(-9) A when submitted to a relative humidity of 25%.. The saturation current was further increased considerably to 3.0 x 10(-7) A as the relative humidity was increased to 95%. This is more than two orders of magnitude increase in saturation current compared to dry condition. A parameter called humidity sensitivity was defined using the current value at a fixed forward voltage of 0.2 V to present the sensitivity of the sensor. Response times are reported to discuss the adsorption and desorption characteristics of the device. Pd/porous GaAs sensor operated at room temperature showed a fast response time of 2 s and a sensitivity value of 93.5% in the presence of 25% relative humidity. Furthermore, the influence of increase in relative humidity as well as heating effects on the responsivity of the sensor is described. Scanning electron microscopy analysis of the Pd/porous GaAs sample exhibited highly porous structures.