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Investigation of pH Effect on the Performance of Undoped Silicon Carbide Nanowire Field-Effect Transistors for the Development of Chemical Sensors and Biosensors

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Abstract

The effect of pH on the performance of undoped silicon carbide nanowire field-effect transistors (SiCNW-FETs) was systematically studied using various solutions with pH ranging from pH 2 to pH 13 and important transport parameters such as transconductance, mobility, and resistivity were reported. Interestingly, at 2 V, alkaline solutions with high pH value (pH 13) revealed a higher transconductance of 7.13 nS and lower resistivity of 40 Ω cm as compared to acidic solutions with 0.01 nS and 2.1x104 Ω cm at pH 2, respectively. A model describing the pH-dependent conductance of the SiCNW-FETs was proposed. Moreover, a comprehensive comparison of the pH effects on the transport properties of the undoped SiCNW-FETs and nitrogen-doped SiCNW-FET was presented and the measurements clearly revealed opposite trends for a wide range of pH solutions. In short, our SiCNW-FETs with high sensitivity, high stability, and minuscule sample volume can provide solutions for the development of harsh environment compatible nanosensors for chemical, biochemical, and environmental sensing applications.

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Fig. 1
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source voltage (Vds) curves of device “A” (two SiCNWs) with constant gate voltage (Vg) of 0 V after applying different pH values (pH 2, pH 3, pH 5, pH 7, pH 9, pH 11, and pH 13); (b) Ids − Vg curves of device “A” while keeping Vds constant (0.01 V) at various pH values ranging from pH 2 to pH 13.

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Acknowledgements

KT gratefully thanks the Istanbul Development Agency (ISTKA) for providing funding for this research (Grant No: TR10/16/YNY/0102).

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  1. Faculty of Engineering, Advanced Micro- and Nano- Devices Laboratory, Marmara University, Istanbul, Turkey

    Habeeb Mousa, Muhammad Awais & Kasif Teker

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  1. Habeeb Mousa
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  2. Muhammad Awais
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Correspondence to Kasif Teker.

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Mousa, H., Awais, M. & Teker, K. Investigation of pH Effect on the Performance of Undoped Silicon Carbide Nanowire Field-Effect Transistors for the Development of Chemical Sensors and Biosensors. J. Electron. Mater. 51, 2062–2069 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-022-09468-z

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