Gas sensing properties of nanocrystalline diamond films

Toxic gas sensing device with metal electrodes built into nanocrystalline diamond (NCD) is investigated. The NCD morphology is controlled via seeding and/or deposition time. The surface properties and morphology of NCD are studied using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). AFM measurements reveal increase in NCD surface area by up to 13%. Gas sensing properties of H-terminated NCD device show high sensitivity towards oxidizing species where the surface conductivity is increased by an order of magnitude for humid air and by three orders of magnitude for COCl2. The surface conductivity exhibits a small decrease to reducing spices (CO2, NH3).