Conduction Model of Metal Oxide Gas Sensors

Tin dioxide is a widely used sensitive material for gas sensors. Many research and development groups in academia and industry are contributing to the increase of (basic) knowledge/(applied) know-how. However, from a systematic point of view the knowledge gaining process seems not to be coherent. One reason is the lack of a general applicable model which combines the basic principles with measurable sensor parameters. The approach in the presented work is to provide a frame model that deals with all contributions involved in conduction within a real world sensor. For doing so, one starts with identifying the different building blocks of a sensor. Afterwards their main inputs are analyzed in combination with the gas reaction involved in sensing. At the end, the contributions are summarized together with their interactions. The work presented here is one step towards a general applicable model for real world gas sensors.