Evaluation of Nanoporous Organosilicate Films as Supports for Pd Based Hydrogen Sensing

We present our preliminary efforts on the evaluation of novel nanoporous organosilicate thin films as supports to drive the formation of Pd nanostructures for application as Pd based resistive sensors. Nanoporous organosilicate thin films are a recently developed technology offering great versatility in being able to fine tune their three dimensional nanostructure, degree of porosity, pore sizes and thicknesses. The underlying surface texture is then utilized to direct the formation of high surface area Pd nanoclusters by depositing Pd upon these films at different thicknesses (In this study -5 nm and 10 nm). These samples where then configured to be used as resistance based hydrogen sensors. The response of the various samples to exposure to 1% hydrogen were studied and discussed. Pd films deposited upon nanoporous films exhibited improved sensor characteristics and interesting contrasting behavior when compared to Pd thin films of the same thickness deposited upon flat control substrates.