Reactively sputtered MoO3 films for ammonia sensing

We report the gas-sensing properties of ion-beam sputter deposited MoO3 thin-films. The change in the DC conductivity was measured in dry N2 with 10% O2 in the presence of up to 490 ppm of NH3, NO, NO2, C3H6, CO and H2. At ∼440 deg. C the film was found to be very sensitive to NH3, with 490 ppm increasing the conductivity by approximately a factor of 70. This was approximately 17 times greater than the response to the other gases. The NH3 response was strongly affected by the accompanying levels of O2, NO2 and H2O. For example, changing the accompanying O2 levels from 1% to 20% decreased the NH3 response by approximately a factor of 20. Similarly, the presence of 100 ppm NO2 (in 10% O2) decreased the NH3 response by approximately a factor of three, and 1% water vapor decreased it by more than a factor of two. The NH3 response, however, was relatively unaffected by 100 ppm of accompanying NO, C3H6, CO or H2. XPS measurements show that the increased conductivity in the presence of NH3 was also accompanied by a partial reduction of the surface MoO3. We observed an increase in the resistance of the films after extended time at elevated temperatures