A WO3 thin film with a 1.2 mum thickness was deposited onto several substra
tes, including unpolished alumina, polished alumina, and silicon, using a t
hermal evaporating method with Pt meander electrodes and a heater. The WO3
thin films were annealed at 600 degreesC in air for 2 h, thereafter, the mi
crostructure and NO2-sensing properties of the thin films grown on the diff
erent substrates were investigated. The WO3 thin film on the unpolished alu
mina exhibited the highest sensitivity of 10-70 ppm NO2 at an operating tem
perature of 300 degreesC, whereas the film on the silicon substrate showed
the lowest sensitivity of 3 ppm. The crystal structures of the thin films g
own on the various substrates were nearly the same, however, their surface
roughnesses were very different according to the kind of substrate. The sen
sitivity of WO3 to NO2 is highly dependent on the roughness of the substrat
e since this is also the main cause of modifications to the surface morphol
ogy of the sensing film. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved
.