Silver-rutile schottky diode fabricated on oxidized titanium foil

Abstract

The fabrication and characterization of a gas sensing Ag-TiO2 Schottky diode are reported. The fabricated Ag-TiO2-Ti structure, formed by sintering silver nanoparticles on the thermally oxidized titanium foil, demonstrated I-V characteristics of a typical Schottky diode at elevated temperatures up to 500 °C. The I-V characteristics of these devices strongly depended on the concentration level of the reducing gas contaminants in the surrounding atmosphere. The samples performed like high-barrier Schottky diodes in clean air, while behaved as ohmic contacts in highly reducing atmospheres. Different concentration levels of the examined alcohol vapours could increase the reverse current of the diodes up to 5 orders of magnitude. The measured electronic features of the device were described via an energy band diagram model.