The interaction of gases such as NH 3 and NO 2 with the surface of core/shell Si/SiO 2 nanowires has been shown to influence their electrical conductivity because NH 3 and NO 2 are electron and hole donors, respectively. Using arrays of n-and p-type Si nanowires, we demonstrate that their influence on the lowfrequency noise characteristics of the nanowires is largest when the donors are minority carriers. The impact of NO 2 and NH 3 on 1/f noise of p-and n-type nanowires, respectively, is limited. However, 1/f noise increases in n-Si nanowires under influence of NO 2 while it decreases in p-Si nanowires for NH 3 . This effect is attributed to oxygen vacancies in the SiO 2 and the presence or absence of holes, h + in the humid gas environment. In addition, gas molecule adsorption in a humid atmosphere influences the pH and thus the surface charge density on the SiO 2 shell, causing changes in the low-frequency noise level via electrostatic interactions.
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