Fabrication of SiC hydrogen sensor by Pd-implantation

Silicon carbide, a semiconductor, is used to fabricate an efficient high temperature hydrogen sensor. When a palladium coating is applied on the exposed surface of silicon carbide, the chemical reaction between palladium and hydrogen produces a detectable change in the surface chemical potential. Rather than applying an external palladium film we have implanted palladium ions into the silicon face of 6H, n-type SiC samples at the ion energies of 130 keV and 70 keV and various fluences at 500 °C. Then each sample was exposed to low levels of hydrogen and its response measured by monitoring the current through the sample, with respect to time. The results obtained are presented in this paper.