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Tunable sensitivity of zirconium oxynitride thin-film temperature sensor modulated by film thickness

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Abstract

ZrOxNy thin films with different thicknesses were deposited on sapphire substrates using DC magnetron reactive sputtering. The electrodes were then deposited on the surface of the films using DC magnetron sputtering to produce temperature sensors. The electrical characteristics of the sensors from 4.3 to 300 K were determined by the physical property measurement system. The resistance–temperature (R–T) characteristic curves indicated that the reduction in the thickness of ZrOxNy films greatly improved the resistance and sensitivity of the sensors. In particular, the absolute value of temperature coefficient of resistance near room temperature reached 0.9% K−1. The microstructure and optical properties of ZrOxNy films were evaluated using scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, Raman spectra, and spectrophotometric measurements. As the film thickness decreased, the microstructure changed from ZrN to poorly crystallized o-Zr3N4, and the bandgap was widened. Moreover, the conduction mechanism fitting results showed the crossover behaviors of Mott-variable range hopping (Mott-VRH) and thermal activation mechanisms upon changes in the thickness and temperature. The increased lattice distortion and phase transition in the ZrOxNy films and the extension of the Mott-VRH to the high-temperature region are responsible for the improved sensor sensitivity. This study provides a simple, low-cost, and highly sensitive solution for room-temperature sensors that can be widely used in temperature monitoring for industry, agriculture, and semiconductor manufacturing.

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Acknowledgements

This work was partially supported by the Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDA25040000), the National Key R&D Program of China (2020YFB1313502), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (61728402), SJTU Trans-med Award (2019015), the Oceanic Interdisciplinary Program of Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SL2020ZD205), Scientific Research Fund of Second Institute of Oceanography, MNR (SL2020ZD205). The authors are also grateful to the Center for Advanced Electronic Materials and Devices (AEMD) of Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

Funding

This work was supported by the Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDA25040000), the National Key R&D Program of China (2020YFB1313502), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (61728402), SJTU Trans-med Award (2019015), the Oceanic Interdisciplinary Program of Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SL2020ZD205) and Scientific Research Fund of Second Institute of Oceanography, MNR (SL2020ZD205).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Key Laboratory of Science and Technology on Micro/Nano Fabrication, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China

    Yanjie Li, Minmin You, Xiuyan Li, Bin Yang, Zude Lin & Jingquan Liu

  2. Department of Micro/Nano Electronics, School of Electronic Information and Electrical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China

    Yanjie Li & Minmin You

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  1. Yanjie Li
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation and data collection were performed by YL. Analysis was performed by YL and MY. Editing was performed by ZL and MY. Supervision and writing reviewing were performed by ZL, XL, BY and JL. The first draft of the manuscript was written by YL and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Zude Lin or Jingquan Liu.

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Li, Y., You, M., Li, X. et al. Tunable sensitivity of zirconium oxynitride thin-film temperature sensor modulated by film thickness. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 33, 20940–20952 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-022-08900-8

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