PROPANE BUTANE SEMICONDUCTOR GAS SENSOR WITH LOW-POWER CONSUMPTION/

The semiconductor gas sensors which have a reduced power consumption a s low as 100 mW were developed for the application to portable gas det ection devices. Sensors with a base material of tin dioxide and 4 wt.% of Pd dopant were fabricated bu means of thick film technology. Both the composition parameters of the sensing layer and the heater were op timized in order to sense propane/butane in air with the threshold lev el of 100 ppm. The original method of tin dioxide preparation for the sensing layer and for the thick film heater being stable at temperatur es up to 600 degrees C was developed. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science S.A.