Application of Thin-Film Amorphous Silicon to Chemical Imaging

Abstract

A thin-film amorphous silicon (a-Si) deposited on a glass substrate was employed as a semiconductor material for the chemical imaging sensor, which can visualize the distribution of ion concentration in a solution. The sensing properties and the spatial resolution of the a-Si sensors were investigated. Nearly-Nernstian pH sensitivities and submicron resolution were demonstrated, which suggests the superior performance of the chemical imaging sensor based on thin-film a-Si.

Visualization of Ion Distribution by a Chemical Imaging Sensor

“…A spatial resolution up to 1 m is expected by using a-Si thin film [12,13]. Figure 5 shows the schematic diagram of the chemical imaging sensor system.…”

Novel photoexcitation method for light-addressable potentiometric sensor with higher spatial resolution

“…[18][19][20][21][22][23] It was also demonstrated that a higher spatial resolution could be achieved by using a semiconductor material with a small diffusion length of minority carriers such as amorphous Si. 22,24,25) Thinning the substrate, however, makes the sensor plate fragile and difficult to handle, and the material technology is not yet well established to realize stable and reliable chemical sensors based on amorphous Si.…”