GAS SENSOR AND METHOD OF MAKING

• US 20090159446A1
• Filed: 12/20/2007
• Published: 06/25/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/20/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: General Electric Company
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Karavoor, Geetha, Krishna, Kalaga Murali, Tilak, Vinayak, Nayak, Mohandas, Hanumantha, Ravikumar, Lemmon, John Patrick, Cui, Jun
• Granted Patent: US 7,827,852 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 204/424
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 41/146 the characteristics being an NOx content or concentration
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 41/1476 Biasing of the sensor
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 27/125 Composition of the body, e.g. the composition of its sensitive layer

Abstract

A gas sensor is disclosed. The gas sensor includes a gas sensing layer including doped oxygen deficient tungsten oxide and a dopant selected from the group consisting of Re, Ni, Cr, V, W, and a combination thereof, at least one electrode positioned within a layer of titanium, and a response modification layer. The at least one electrode is in communication with the gas sensing layer and the gas sensing layer is capable of detecting at least one gas selected from the group consisting of NO, NO₂, SO_x O₂, H₂O, and NH₃. A method of fabricating the gas sensor is also disclosed.

Claims

1. A gas sensor, comprising:

a gas sensing layer comprising WO_3-δ

, wherein 0.35≧

δ

>

0, and comprising a dopant selected from the group consisting of Re, Ni, Cr, V, W, and a combination thereof; and

at least one electrode positioned adjacent to layer of titanium and a response modification layer of a material selected from the group consisting of Ti, Ni, Cr, V, W, Re and a combination thereof, the at least one electrode being in communication with the gas sensing layer;

wherein the gas sensing layer is capable of detecting at least one gas selected from the group consisting of NO, NO₂, SO_x, O₂, H₂O and NH₃.

2. The gas sensor of claim 1, comprising:

a substrate layer;

a heating layer adjacent to the substrate layer;

a first glass layer adjacent to the heating layer;

a temperature sensing layer adjacent to the first glass layer;

a second glass layer between the temperature sensing layer and the titanium layer.

3. The gas sensor of claim 1, wherein the gas sensing layer is configured for equisensitive response to two given gases.

4. The gas sensor of claim 1, wherein the gas sensing layer is configured to be operable in harsh environments.

5. The gas sensor of claim 1, wherein an analyte species filter material is disposed adjacent to the gas sensing surface of the gas sensing layer.

6. The gas sensor of claim 1, wherein the at least one electrode is composed of a material selected from the group consisting of Pt, Au, Ag, Ni, Ti, In, Sn, Cr, nickel oxide, titanium nitride, aluminum doped zinc oxide, indium tin oxide, and a combination thereof.

7. The gas sensor of claim 1, wherein the at least one electrode is composed of a multilayer stack of materials selected from the group consisting of Pt, Ti, Al, Au, Ag, Ni, Cr, In, titanium nitride, nickel oxide, aluminum doped zinc oxide, indium tin oxide, chrome, and a combination thereof.

8. The gas sensor of claim 1, wherein the at least one electrode is placed in a sandwich geometry, a side-by-side geometry, or combinations thereof.

9. The gas sensor of claim 1, wherein the gas sensing layer has a response time from about 1 s to about 100 s upon exposure to analyte.

10. The gas sensor of claim 1, wherein the gas sensing layer has a recovery time from about 1 s to about 100 s after exposure to analyte is withdrawn.

11. The gas sensor of claim 1, wherein said at least one electrode comprises at least two electrodes and an electrical resistance between said at least two electrodes is less than about 100000Ω

.

12. The gas sensor of claim 1, wherein the at least one electrode can be placed in an interdigitated geometry, an inline geometry, or combinations thereof.

13. The gas sensor of claim 1, wherein the gas sensor is arranged in a flip-chip arrangement.

14. The gas sensor of claim 1, wherein the gas sensing layer is configured for detection of analyte levels from about 1 ppm to about 1000 ppm.

15. The gas sensor of claim 1, wherein the gas sensor is configured to be operable as a resistor, a field effect transistor, a capacitor, a diode, and a combination thereof.

16. The gas sensor of claim 1, wherein the gas sensor is configured so that its response may be monitored via resistive measurements, potentiometric measurements, or combinations thereof.

17. The gas sensor of claim 1, wherein the electrode thickness is from about thickness 500 Å

to about 10000 Å

.

18. The gas sensor of claim 1 when the at least one electrode comprises a multilayer stack of materials, wherein a thickness of each layer of the multilayer stack is from about 100 Å

to about 2000 Å

.

19. The gas sensor of claim 1, wherein the response modification layer thickness is from about 10 Å

to about 100 Å

.

20. The gas sensor of claim 1, wherein the titanium layer thickness is from about 5 Å

to about 100 Å

.

21. The gas sensor of claim 1, wherein the gas sensing layer thickness is from about 300 Å

to about 5000 Å

.

22. The gas sensor of claim 1, wherein the concentration of the dopant in the gas sensing layer can be from about 0.2 mol % to about 5 mol %.

23. The gas sensor of claim 1, wherein the response of the gas sensor may be measured using an AC detection technique, a DC detection technique, or a combination thereof.

24. A gas sensor array, wherein a plurality of gas sensors of claim 1 are placed adjacent to each other.

25. An automobile having a system for gas sensing, comprising:

an exhaust system to transport gases; and

a gas sensor, comprising;

a gas sensing layer comprising WO_3-δ

, wherein 0.35≧

δ

>

0, and comprising a dopant selected from the group consisting of Re, Ni, Cr, V, W, and a combination thereof;

at least one electrode positioned within a layer of titanium and a response modification layer comprising a material selected from the group consisting of Ti, Ni, Cr, V, W, Re and a combination thereof, the at least one electrode being in communication with the gas sensing layer, and

wherein the gas sensing layer is capable of detecting at least one gas selected from the group consisting of NO, NO₂, SO_x, O₂, H₂O, and NH₃.

26. A method for making a gas sensor, the method comprising the steps of:

providing a substrate;

disposing a heating layer adjacent to the substrate layer;

disposing a first glass layer adjacent to the heating layer;

disposing a temperature sensing layer adjacent to the first glass layer;

disposing a second glass layer adjacent to the temperature sensing layer;

disposing at least one electrode adjacent to the second glass layer,

disposing a titanium layer adjacent to the at least one electrode;

disposing a response modification layer adjacent to the titanium layer; and

disposing a gas sensing layer comprising WO_3-δ

, wherein 0.35≧

δ

>

0, and comprising a dopant selected from the group consisting of Re, Ni, Cr, V, W or a combination thereof, adjacent to the response modification layer.