Field-Assisted and Thermionic Contributions to Conductance in Thick-Films.pdfVIP

Hindawi Publishing Corporation Journal of Sensors Volume 2009, Article ID 402527, 5 pages doi:10.1155/2009/402527 Research Article Field-Assisted and Thermionic Contributions to Conductance in SnO2 Thick-Films ` 1 1 1 2 2 2 C. Malagu, M. C. Carotta, G. Martinelli, M. A. Ponce, M. S. Castro, and C. M. Aldao 1 Department of Physics, University of Ferrara, Via Saragat 1/C, 44100 Ferrara, Italy 2 Institute of Materials Science and Technology (INTEMA), National University of Mar del Plata, CONICET, Juan B. Justo 4302, B7608FDQ Mar del Plata, Argentina ` Correspondence should be addressed to C. Malagu, malagu@fe.infn.it Received 27 January 2009; Revised 27 May 2009; Accepted 23 June 2009 Recommended by Giorgio Sberveglieri A deep analysis of conductance in nanostructured SnO2 thick films has been performed. A model for field-assisted thermionic barrier crossing is being proposed to explain the film conductivity. The model has been applied to explain the behavior of resistance in vacuum of two sets of nanostructured thick-films with grains having two well-distinct characteristic radii (R = 25 nm and R = 125 nm). In the first case the grain radius is shorter than the depletion region width, a limit at which overlapping of barriers takes place, and in the second case it is longer. The behavior of resistance in the presence of dry air has been explained through the mechanism of barrier modulation through gas chemisorption. ` Copyright © 2009 C. Malagu et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Cr