FAST CHEMICAL SENSING WITH METAL-INSULATOR SILICON-CARBIDE STRUCTURES

It is demonstrated that the current-voltage characteristics of platinu m-thin insulator silicon carbide diodes react rapidly to changes of th e concentration of oxygen and hydrocarbons in the ambient already at t emperatures around 500 degrees C-600 degrees C, In this letter, we use moving gas outlets to, for the first time, estimate time constants of the response in the order of a few milliseconds. The short time const ants of these sensors make them suitable for applications in combustio n monitoring. The new method to modulate gas concentrations rapidly at surfaces has the potential to be a valuable tool for evaluation of de vice structures for fast chemical sensing.