Fabrication of Thin-Film LAPS with Amorphous Silicon.docVIP

Sensors 2004, 4, 163-169 sensors ISSN 1424-8220 ? 2004 by MDPI /sensors Fabrication of Thin-Film LAPS with Amorphous Silicon Tatsuo Yoshinobu Iwasaki , Michael J. Sch?ning , Friedhelm Finger , Werner Moritz and Hiroshi 1,* 2,3 4 5 1 1 ISIR, Osaka University, 8-1 Mihogaoka, Ibaraki, Osaka 567-0047, Japan University of Applied Sciences, Aachen (Division Jülich), Laboratory for Chemical Sensors and 2 Biosensors, Ginsterweg 1, D-52428, Jülich, Germany 3 4 5 ISG-2, Research Centre Jülich, 52425 Jülich, Germany IPV, Research Centre Jülich, 52425 Jülich, Germany Humboldt University Berlin, Brook-Taylor-Str. 2, 12489 Berlin, Germany * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: nov@sanken.osaka-u.ac.jp Received: 09 August 2004 / Accepted: 27 August 2004 / Published: 30 October 2004 Abstract: To improve the spatial resolution of the light-addressable potentiometric sensor (LAPS), it is necessary to reduce the thickness of the semiconductor layer, which, however, causes a problem of the mechanical strength of the sensor plate. In this study, a thin-film LAPS was fabricated with amorphous silicon (a-Si) deposited on a transparent glass substrate. The current-voltage characteristics and pH sensitivity of the fabricated a-Si LAPS were investigated. Keywords: LAPS, chemical imaging sensor, amorphous silicon, pH sensor.  Sensors 2004, 4 164 Introduction The light-addressable potentiometric sensor (LAPS) [1,2] is a semiconductor-based chemical sensor with an electrolyte-insulator-semiconductor (EIS) structure as shown in Fig. 1. The principle of the LAPS is similar to that of the EIS capacitance sensor, in which the capacitance of the EIS system is measured to determine the ion concentration of the solution. In the case of the EIS capacitance sensor, however,