Aviv, 69978 Tel Aviv, Israel Effect of hydrogen adsorption on the extraordinary Hall phenomenon (EHE) in ferromagnetic CoPd films is studied as a function of composition, thickness, substrate and hydrogen concentration in atmosphere. Adsorption of hydrogen adds a positive term in the extraordinary Hall effect coefficient and modifies the perpendicular magnetic anisotropy with the respective changes in coercivity and remanence of hysteresis loops. Hydrogen sensitive compositions are within the Co concentration range 20% x 50% with the strongest response near the EHE polarity reversal point 0~3 8%. Depending on the film composition and field of operation the EHE response of CoPd to low concentration hydrogen can reach hundreds percent, which makes the method and the material attractive for hydrogen sensing. 2 Introduction. Hydrogen is a combustible gas present in practically every chemical process. The detection and concentration measurement of hydrogen is of a paramount importance in limitless cases of human activity from chemical, metallurgical, semiconductor and nuclear power industry to the emerging hydrogen energy economy. Many types of hydrogen sensors are commercially available or are in development. Following the classification by Hübert et al 1 they can be divided in eight groups as: catalytic, thermal conductivity; electrochemical, resistance based, work function based, mechanical, optical and acoustic.Yet, there is a continued need for faster, more accurate and more selective detection of hydrogen gas. It was suggested recently 2 that accuracy and selectivity of gas detection in general and hydrogen in particular, could be improved by measuring two or more independent gas-dependent parameters, e.g. resistance and magnetization. To execute a sensitive magnetic measurement in a compact and handy apparatus it was proposed to use the extraordinary Hall effect (EHE), which is an electric replica of magnetization compatible with a standard four-probe resistance measurement. Successful implementation of the technique would enrich the gas detection arsenal by magnetic type of sensors using the spintronics effect. In this paper, we present a systematic study of hydrogen detection using the extraordinary Hall effect in thin CoPd films.
Experimental.Polycrystalline CoxPd(100-x) films with Co atomic concentration x (at. %) varying over an entire range 0 x 100 were deposited by rf co-sputtering from Co and Pd targets onto room temperature glass and GaAs substrates. The base pressure prior to deposition was 5 × 10 -7 mbar. Sputtering was carried out at Ar-pressure of 5 × 10 -3 mbar. Composition of samples was controlled by rf-power of the respective sputtering sources. Co and Pd are