IEEE SENSORS JOURNAL, VOL. 16, NO.

16, AUGUST 15, 2016

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Effect of RF Plasma on Gridded Gate Pt/SiO2/Si

MOS Sensor for Detection of Hydrogen
Vinod Kumar, Sunny, V. N. Mishra, R. Dwivedi, and R. R. Das

Abstract The effect of RF oxygen plasma treatment on SiO2

surfaces has been investigated and compared with nonplasma
treated sensors. Eight samples of thermally grown 120 SiO2
film are treated with a different RF O2 plasma power and
time. All sensors have been tested for different concentrations
of H2 at 25 C. It is observed that the sensitivity of sensors
increases for high duration (8 min) of plasma exposure at 40-W
RF plasma power. The sensors treated at 50-W RF plasma for 8and 12-min duration exhibited the decrease in sensitivity. Surface
morphology of plasma treated SiO2 film surfaces has been studied
by automic force microscopy (AFM) to have the estimation of
porosity, grain size, and surface roughness. The high sensitivity
can be attributed to the fact that O2 plasma treatment increases
the porosity, grain size, and surface roughness of the SiO2 film.
Fixed oxide charge density has also been evaluated as a function
of hydrogen concentration for varying exposure time and RF
power.
Index Terms MOS capacitor, sensitivity, RF plasma, surface
morphology.

I. I NTRODUCTION
N THE recent years the several impact on the environment
due to the burning of fossil fuels has attracted the modern
world for clean energy source; Hydrogen is being used as a
clean energy source in many industries like chemical, food,
semiconductor, petroleum, research laboratory etc [1], [2].
It is well known fact that hydrogen is inflammable, explosive
as well as hazardous gas. So due to safety reasons, its
continuous monitoring is required. Hydrogen sensors form an
integral part of any such systems incorporating hydrogen as
a fuel [2]. The MOS structure is also sensitive to hydrogen
containing molecules like ethylene, ethanol and hydrogen sulphide [3], [4]. If the metal film is made thin and discontinuous
nature, an increased response to several gases notably NH3 is
observed [7]. The selectivity pattern of MOS device depends
on the choice of catalytic metal gate, the structure of metal gate
and operating temperature [5][8]. Surface and interface states

Manuscript received December 3, 2015; revised May 24, 2016; accepted

May 25, 2016. Date of publication June 7, 2016; date of current version
July 18, 2016. The associate editor coordinating the review of this paper and
approving it for publication was Prof. Massood Z. Atashbar. (Corresponding
author: Vinod Kumar.)
V. Kumar is with the Department of Electronics and Communication
Engineering, Raj Kumar Goel Institute of Technology, Ghaziabad 201001,
India (e-mail: vkchaudhary.rs.ece@iitbhu.ac.in).
Sunny is with the Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Indian Institute of Information Technology, Allahabad 211012, India
(e-mail: sunnymeharwal@gmail.com).
V. N. Mishra, R. Dwivedi, and R. R. Das are with the Department
of Electronics Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (Banaras Hindu
University), Varanasi, Varanasi 221005, India (e-mail: vnmishra.ece@
iitbhu.ac.in; rdwivedi.ece@iitbhu.ac.in; rrdas.ece@iitbhu.ac.in).
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/JSEN.2016.2577706

play an important role in determining the sensing performance

of the MOS capacitor sensor. It has been observed that the
dominating part of the response of MIS sensor is due to the
charge trapping on the insulator side of the interface [9], [10].
Eriksson et al. have co-related the sensing properties (such
as detection limit, sensitivity and saturation concentration
level) of MIS gas sensors with the surface properties of the
insulator and concluded that surface properties of the insulator
have a drastic improvement on the sensing behaviour of the
sensor [11].
Chanana et al. [12] fabricated the ultra thin (6.3 nm) layer
of SiO2 using RF oxygen plasma at room temperature with insitu dry cleaning of Si surface. They observed that electrical
properties of such SiO2 are favourable for the development
of MOS based gas sensors. It was also observed that the
plasma oxides usually have higher densities as compared
to thermally grown oxides and same is expected about the
thin plasma oxides formed at low deposition temperature.
Chanana et al. also reported that dielectric breakdown strength
of SiO2 layer increased with plasma cleaning after conventional cleaning [13]. Dwivedi et al. has fabricated the MOS
sensor for hydrogen detection by depositing 6.9 nm thick SiO2
layer through RF anodization of dry plasma pre-cleaned silicon
surface, in oxygen plasma near room temperature and found a
drastic improvement in the sensing behaviour of the sensor
in terms of high sensitivity and low response time of the
sensor [14]. Surface treatment by soft plasma (O2 , He, Ar,
NH3 and H2 ) is another well established technique to modify
the electrical and structural properties of SiO2 film and its
interface with silicon and enhance the sensitivity of the MOS
gas sensor [15][20].
Pandey et al. [22] observed 73.3% sensitivity on
Pd/SiO2 /Si MOS capacitor based structure towards H2 at room
temperature [22]. Pandey et al. had also observed the change in
sensitivity (73.3 to 74.4%) after RF and microwave Oxygen
plasma treatment of Pd/SiO2 /Si MOS capacitor sensor [21].
Kumar et al. [4] reported the enhancement in sensitivity
towards hydrogen by using the gridded gate MOS structure.
They had observed better sensitivity (88%) as reported
by earlier researchers [14], [21], [22]. The enhancement in
sensitivity was caused by side wall diffusion, spill over of
gas molecules onto oxide layer, and increase in surface area
of gate electrode. The sensitivity of the MOS sensor can
be enhanced by changing the structure of both SiO2 film
and metal gate [23]. The present paper deals with the effect
of RF plasma on SiO2 film as well as combined effect of
RF plasma with gridded gate structure on C-V characteristics,
sensitivity (%) vs H2 concentration and variation of fixed oxide

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Fig. 1. Three-dimensional structure of plasma treated gridded gate Pt/SiO2 /Si

MOS.

charge density vs H2 concentration of MOS sensor. The goal of

this experiment was to enhance the sensitivity of MOS sensor
towards hydrogen. The fabricated MOS sensor S4 (treated with
40 W, 8 min., RF plasma) showed better sensitivity (91%) at
25 KHz as reported by earlier researchers [4], [14], [21], [22].

Fig. 2.

Schematic of PECVD system.

TABLE I
VARIOUS RF P LASMA D EPOSITION PARAMETERS

II. E XPERIMENTAL D ETAILS

A. Device Fabrication
In the present work, 9 samples of gridded Pt/SiO2 /Si MOS
capacitors have been fabricated on P type <100> 3 Si
substrate out of which one sample (S1) is non plasma treated
and 8 samples (S2-S9) are plasma treated. The schematic
diagram of plasma treated gridded Pt/SiO2 /Si MOS sensor
has been illustrated in Fig. 1. The fabrication process of
non plasma treated gridded gate Pt/SiO2 /Si MOS sensor has
already been reported by Kumar et al. [4]. While fabrication
process of plasma treated gridded gate Pt/SiO2 /Si MOS sensor
has followed the following steps.
(i) Initially, all the samples (S1-S9) have been thoroughly
cleaned using standard technological cleaning procedure used in silicon technology.
(ii) A SiO2 film of 120 has been grown by the dry
thermal oxidation method by keeping all 9 samples in
oxidation furnace in O2 and N2 ambient atmosphere of
3:1 ratio. The thickness of the SiO2 film has been measured through ellipsometer (model no. L117, Gaertner
Scientific corp., Chicago, USA). The average thickness
measured by this method is calculated by Gaertner
Ellipsometer Program (LGEMP).
(iii) For plasma treatment, these 8 samples (S2-S9) have
been divided into two sets (each set containing four
samples). Each set has been exposed to RF oxygen plasma with different RF power (40W and 50W,
respectively) and all four samples of each set have
been exposed to RF plasma for different duration
of time (2min., 4min., 8min., and 12min.). Oxygen
plasma has been generated at low pressure by using
PECVD (plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition
system, made by National Physical Laboratory (NPL),
New Delhi). The Schematic diagram of PECVD system
has been illustrated in Fig. 2. The Top electrode of
RF plasma system is grounded and substrates are kept
on bottom electrode and they are driven by various
RF power (40W and 50W) and timings (2min., 4min.,
8min., and 12min.) to optimize plasma treatment. The
PECVD system is operated in capacitive coupled mode
at 13.56 MHz. The base pressure, working pressure and

(iv)

(v)

(vi)

(vii)
(viii)

oxygen flow are kept same for all the eight samples.
The details of various deposition parameters for all
eight samples have been provided in Table I.
After RF oxygen plasma treatment of SiO2 film surface,
photolithography technique is used for retaining front
side oxide and removing the oxide from the back side
of all the sensors.
Subsequently, Pt is deposited on the front face of all
nine sensors (including S1sensor) of thickness 420
by thermal evaporation method (model no. 12A4D,
Hind Hivac Co. Ltd., India, make).
For the required gridded gate structure a standard mask
is used which has been reported elsewhere [4]. The
outer diameter and inner diameter of gate structure are
kept 1.5 mm and 0.3 mm, respectively. The necessary
photolithography using lift off technique has been performed to have proper dimensions of MOS structure.
Aqua Regia is used for platinum metal etching.
The ohmic contact to the back side of Si substrate is
made by evaporating Al metal.
Annealing at 450 C in N2 ambient atmosphere for
7 minutes is performed to have proper ohmic contacts.

B. Surface Characterization of the Device

The microstructure analysis of SiO2 surfaces of all nine
sensors has been carried out by AFM in contact mode
(model no.-NSE, Nanoscope E Digital Instrument Inc., U.S.A).
AFM images of few samples have been illustrated in
Fig 4(a) to Fig. 4(f) for the sake of simplicity. AFM study

KUMAR et al.: EFFECT OF RF PLASMA ON GRIDDED GATE Pt/SiO2 /Si MOS SENSOR FOR DETECTION OF HYDROGEN

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TABLE II
C OMPARATIVE S TUDY OF VARIOUS MOS S ENSORS

reveals the micro porous and granular nature of the SiO2 film.
The surface roughness and grain size of SiO2 film of all nine
sensors have been evaluated from AFM micrograph and shown
in Table II.
C. Electrical Characterization of the Device
The C-V measurements of fabricated gridded Pt/SiO2 /Si
MOS capacitor sensors (all nine samples) have been carried out in air, in a closed chamber towards hydrogen
(250-3500 ppm) at 25 Khz at room temperature by fully
automated C-V analyzer using precision LCR meter (Model
No. HP-4284A, frequency range of 20 Hz to 1 MHz). The
schematic of experimental setup used to study the C-V
response of the fabricated device has already been reported
elsewhere [4].
III. R ESULT AND D ISCUSSION
The surface morphology of SiO2 films of all nine sensors has been investigated through AFM study shown in
Fig. 4(a) to Fig. 4(f). Moreover, the film surface of all plasma
treated sensors (S2-S9) comprising of micro porous structures
which may lead to improved sensing behavior of the device
which is shown in Fig. 4(b) to 4(f). It has been observed that
very small porosities are found in non plasma treated SiO2
film of S1 sensor which is shown in Fig. 4(a). Fig. 5(a) shows
the C-V characteristics of S1 sensor and Fig. 5(b) to Fig. 5(i)
show the C-V characteristics of all eight MOS sensors (S2-S9)

Fig. 3. (a) SEM image of Pt gate film of sample S3. (b) SEM image of
Pt gate film of sample S4. (c) SEM image of Pt gate film of sample S5.

treated at 40 W and 50 W RF oxygen plasma power for different durations (2 min., 4 min., 8 min. and 12 min.) upon exposure to various concentrations of hydrogen (250-3000 ppm)
at 25 KHz. It has been observed that with increase in the
hydrogen concentration the entire C-V curve shifts towards the
negative side of the voltage axis [22], [24], [25]. The change in
capacitance with H2 concentration is converted into percentage
sensitivity (%) through the formula [24]
S(%) = ((Cair Cgas )/Cair ) 100

(1)

Where, Cair and Cgas are the capacitances in air and H2

gas, respectively. Fig. 6(a) to Fig. 6(c) show sensitivity vs
concentration curves of all nine gridded gate MOS sensors (S1-S9). From Fig. 6(b), it has been observed that at

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Fig. 4. (a) AFM images of Non plasma treated SiO2 film (S1). (b) Surfaces treated with O2 plasma at 40W RF power for 4 minutes (S3). (c) Surfaces
treated with O2 plasma at 40W RF power for 8 minutes (S4). (d) Surfaces treated with O2 plasma at 40W RF power for 12 minutes (S5). (e) Surfaces treated
with O2 plasma at 50W RF power for 4 minutes (S7). (f) Surface treated with O2 plasma at 50W RF power for 8 minutes (S8).

40 W RF plasma power as the plasma exposure time increases

(2 min. to 8 min.) the sensitivity of the sensor also increases.
The maximum sensitivity i.e. 91% has been found in case
of S4 sensor (40W, 8 min.) as compared to other sensors.
However, in case of 50 W, for plasma exposure of 2 min.
and 4 min. duration (S6, S7), the sensitivity of the sensors
increases initially and has been found to be decrease for the
sensors (S8, S9) with exposure time of 8 min. and 12 min.
duration shown in Fig. 6(c) and shows a saturating trend at
higher concentration of H2 .
Capacitance (C) is given by the following formula
C = A/d

(2)

where A and d are having their usual meaning.

As the thickness of SiO2 decreases with increase in plasma
exposure time and power which results decrease in Cair which
is shown in Fig. 5(a) to 5(i). It is clear from AFM images and
the Table II that the main reasons of higher gas sensitivity are
large grain boundaries, high value of surface roughness, large
porosity found in the oxide film.
The SEM of Pt gate film of three samples S3, S4 and S5
has been illustrated in Fig. 3(a)-(c). By observing these SEM
images, samples S4 is found to have better porosity and cracks
in Pt film. The more porosity found in the Pt film may result
from large grain size and more surface roughness of the SiO2
film. Due more porosity and cracks in the Pt film surface area
of Pt gate film increases which results in more gas interaction
with the sensor hence S4 sensor shows better sensitivity as
compared to other sensors. Higher density of surface states in
oxide layer at the interface of insulator/silicon may be another
reason of high sensitivity [22], [24], [25].
In the present work, AFM analysis of RF oxygen plasma
treated SiO2 surfaces consist certain porosity as shown in
Fig. 4(b) to Fig. 4(f). The porosity in the SiO2 film is found

to increase with plasma exposure time and power both. These

figures show the granular microstructures having a large no.
of grains with some porosity.
The porosity of the surface increases with plasma exposure
time and attains maximum value at 8 min. duration for
40 W RF power (S4) which is shown in Fig. 4(c). At this
power and time grain size (10.859 nm) and surface roughness
(14.971 nm) are found to be maximum. For 12 min., 40 W
plasma exposure (S5) SiO2 film surface begins to damage
appreciably which is clear from the Fig. 4(d). For S7 sensor
(50 watt, 4 min.), the oxide surface consists big pores in the
SiO2 film however grain size is found to be small (6.99 nm)
as compared to S2, S3 and S4 sensors. The AFM image of
sensor (S7) is illustrated in Fig. 4(e). Due to good porosity
found in the film of sensor (S7) it shows the good sensitivity (87%) which is less as compared to sensitivity of sensors
S2, S3 and S4. At 50 W plasma power and higher duration
exposure time (8min., and 12 min.) the SiO2 film gets damage.
This is shown in Fig. 4(f). Table II shows the comparative
study of all nine MOS sensors on the basis of sensitivity (%),
average roughness and grain size. Fig. 5(a) to Fig. 5(i) shows
the C-V characteristics at different H2 concentrations. As concentration of H2 increases capacitance decreases towards ve voltage axis. The maximum percentage sensitivity (S) at
various bias voltages for all nine sensors is shown in Table III.
This is evident from the sensitivity vs concentration
response as presented in Fig. 6(b) and Fig. 6(c), where
sensitivity is found to decrease for higher duration as well
as high power plasma exposure of S5, S8 and S9. It has
been reported that due to high power plasma exposure surface
sputtering may take place which results decrease in sensitivity
at 50 W, which is shown in Fig. 6(c) [21], [27]. Plasma is an
electrically neutral gaseous matter, consisting of electrically
neutral gas molecules, photons and charged particles (ions

KUMAR et al.: EFFECT OF RF PLASMA ON GRIDDED GATE Pt/SiO2 /Si MOS SENSOR FOR DETECTION OF HYDROGEN

6209

Fig. 5. (a) C-V response of Non plasma treated gridded gate Pt/SiO2 /Si MOS sensor (S1) in air at room temperature. (b) C-V response of O2 RF plasma
treated at (40 W, 2 min.) gridded gate Pt/SiO2 /Si MOS sensor (S2) in air, at room temperature. (c) C-V response of O2 RF plasma treated at (40 W, 4 min.)
gridded gate Pt/SiO2 /Si MOS sensor (S3) in air, at room temperature. (d) C-V response of O2 RF plasma treated at (40 W, 8 min.) gridded gate Pt/SiO2 /Si
MOS sensor (S4) in air, at room temperature. (e) C-V response of O2 RF plasma treated at (40 W, 12 min.) gridded gate Pt/SiO2 /Si MOS sensor (S5) in
air, at room temperature. (f) C-V response of O2 RF plasma treated at (50 W, 2 min.) gridded gate Pt/SiO2 /Si MOS sensor (S6) in air, at room temperature.
(g) C-V response of O2 RF plasma treated at (50 W, 4 min.) gridded gate Pt/SiO2 /Si MOS sensor (S7) in air, at room temperature. (h) C-V response of
O2 RF plasma treated at (50 W, 8 min.) gridded gate Pt/SiO2 /Si MOS sensor (S8) in air, at room temperature. (i) C-V response of O2 RF plasma treated at
(50 W, 12 min.) gridded gate Pt/SiO2 /Si MOS sensor (S9) in air, at room temperature.

Fig. 6.
(a) Variation of sensitivity vs concentration of Non plasma treated gridded gate Pt/SiO2 /Si MOS sensor (S1) in air, at room temperature
at 0.3 V Bias. (b) Variation of sensitivity vs concentration of O2 RF plasma treated at 40 W RF plasma power gridded gate Pt/SiO2 /Si MOS sensors
(S2-S5) for different durations in air, at room temperature, Bias Voltage = 0.4 and 0.1V for S2-S4 and S5, respectively. (c) Variation of sensitivity vs
concentration of plasma treated at 50 W RF plasma power gridded gate Pt/SiO2 /Si MOS sensors (S6-S9) for different durations in air, at room temperature,
Bias Voltage = 0.2V for S6 and S8 and 0.4V for S7 and S9.

and electrons). The parameters that affect the characteristics

of plasma to activate the gas are plasma density, the electron
energy usually given in terms of a temperature and the ion

impact energy. These all affect the ability of the plasma to

promote the etching of SiO2 film [28]. Aguas et al. [29]
reported that oxygen plasma treatment of the surface oxides

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Fig. 7. (a) Variation of fixed oxide charge density vs concentration of Non plasma treated sample (S1) in air, at room temperature. (b) Variation of fixed oxide
charge density vs concentration of O2 RF plasma treated at 40 W RF plasma power gridded gate Pt/SiO2 /Si MOS sensors (S2-S5) for different durations
(2 min., 4 min., 8 min., and 12 min.) in air at room temperature. (c) Variation of fixed oxide charge density vs concentrations of O2 RF plasma treated at
50 W RF plasma power gridded gate Pt/SiO2 /Si MOS sensors (S6-S9) for different durations (2 min., 4 min., 8 min., and 12 min.) in air, at room temperature.
TABLE III

TABLE IV

M AXIMUM P ERCENTAGE S ENSITIVITY (S) AT VARIOUS B IAS V OLTAGES

R ESPONSE AND R ECOVERY T IMES OF VARIOUS S ENSORS

surface and results in increase in sensitivity of sensor [14].

The basic principle of operation of gridded gate Pt/SiO2 /Si
MOS sensor had already been reported by Kumar et al. [4].
Further, the flat band capacitance (CFB ) is evaluated as
described below [38].
1
CF B
=
Ci
1
Ci
[ 2.06 U ( Cmin 1) + 1]

(3)

where,
is an effective method to increase the oxide barrier by changing the oxide stoichiometry and consequently improves the
electrical properties of the surface. It had been observed that
sensor made up by porous gate metal film as well as SiO2 film
posses higher gas sensitivity due to the increase in effective
surface area [4], [30]. When the effective surface area of the
sensor increases, it results in an increase of the oxygen species
available for reaction with reducing gas in contact with the
sensor. This results in an increase in sensitivity [31].
The gas sensing mechanism of SiO2 sensor is based on
surface reaction between the oxygen species and the reducing
gas in contact with the sensor [32][34]. Oxygen plasma
constitutes single and multiple species like O , O2 , O3 ,
O4 , O+4 , O3+ , O2+ , O+ etc and e [35], [36]. When these
species interact with each other, the no. of adsorption sites
inside the device also get modulated, accordingly. On the
exposure of reducing gases like hydrogen the adsorbed gas
molecules (in this case H2 ) interact with these species (single
or multiple) which are present at the SiO2 surface due to
plasma treatment, and can exchange electrons with SiO2

Ci Cmin
1

U F = 1.16 + 2.17 ln
Ci Cmin
A


(4)

U F - normalized Fermi potential, Ci - insulator capacitance,

Cmin - Semiconductor capacitance under strong inversion,
A- gate area (cm2 ).
The value of CFB is fitted to the experimental C-V curves
Fig. 5(a) to Fig. 5(i) for evaluating the flat band voltage (VFB ).
Once VFB is known than Qss is calculated by the following
formula [24]
VFB = ms Q ss /Ci

(5)

The flat band voltage depends upon metal semiconductor

work function (ms ), fixed surface state density (Q ss /q) and
insulator capacitor (Ci ).
In the present work the fixed charge density for all nine
sensors (S1-S9) has been evaluated as a function of hydrogen
concentration treated at different RF plasma power (40 W and
50 W) and exposure time (2 min., 4 min., 8 min., and 12 min.).
Fig. 7(a) illustrates the fixed charge density versus hydrogen

KUMAR et al.: EFFECT OF RF PLASMA ON GRIDDED GATE Pt/SiO2 /Si MOS SENSOR FOR DETECTION OF HYDROGEN

concentration for non plasma treated sensor (S1). The increasing tendency of fixed charge density with increase in hydrogen
concentration for non plasma treated gridded gate Pt/SiO2 /Si
MOS sensor had already been reported elsewhere [37].
Fig. 7(b) and Fig. 7(c) illustrate the effect of plasma
treatment on fixed charge density at 40 W and 50 W
RF plasma power, respectively. In case of 40 W of plasma
power, the value of fixed charge density varies with H2
concentration and has been found to be maximum for plasma
exposure time of 8 minutes but for higher duration (12 min.)
at 40 W and higher plasma power (50 W) the fixed charge
density decreases, due to surface sputtering [21], [27].
The response and recovery times of sample S1-S9 are shown
in Table IV.
IV. C ONCLUSION
From Fig. 6(a) to Fig. 6(c) it has been observed that
all plasma treated gridded gate Pt/SiO2 /Si MOS sensors
exhibit a better sensitivity except S5,S8 and S9 as compared
to non plasma treated gridded gate Pt/SiO2 /Si MOS sensor (S1) (73%) towards hydrogen. Sensor S4 out of all nine
sensors exhibits highest sensitivity (91%) as compared to
other samples. In present case, the better response of the sensor
is attributed to the following reasons: (i) Due to the gridded
gate structure and large porosity found in the gate metal film
as well as SiO2 film, effective surface area of the sensor
increases which results in an increase of the oxygen species
available for reaction. This results in an increase in sensitivity [4], [31], (ii) Oxygen plasma comprises of single and multiple species like O , O2 , O3 , O4 , O+4 , O3+ , O2+ , O+ etc
and e [35], [36], When these species interact with each other,
a number of adsorption sites inside the device also gets modulated and hence sensitivity of the device increases, (iii) Spillover mechanism, inner side wall and outer side wall diffusion
and better chemical absorption of hydrogen in air ambient [4],
[39], [40], (iv) Large grain size and high surface roughness,
found in the SiO2 film are few other reasons which are also
responsible for improvement in sensitivity. However, there are
few practical disadvantages to the use of microwave frequencies; plasma is often difficult to initiate and can be unstable.
The Plasmon must be shielded as microwaves are hazardous
and scaling up the plasma to enable large area film to be
grown is difficult. Whereas, capacitive coupled RF plasma
does not suffer these drawbacks and have found widespread
applications in other thin film growth environments [28]. Thus,
it is concluded that RF oxygen plasma treated gridded gate
Pt/SiO2 /Si MOS capacitor may be technologically a better and
preferred choice for hydrogen detection.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors are thankful to Dr. Sushil Kumar, Principal
Scientist, NPL, New Delhi, and Dr. G. V. Ganesan, Centre
Director, UGC-DAE consortium for Scientific Research,
Indore, India to access the Plasma facility and AFM measurement facility, respectively.
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IEEE SENSORS JOURNAL, VOL. 16, NO. 16, AUGUST 15, 2016

Vinod Kumar received the B.E. degree in electronics engineering from Nagpur University, Nagpur, in
1998, the M.Tech. degree in microelectronics from
the Indian Institute of Technology (Banaras Hindu
University) (IIT-BHU), Varanasi, India, in 2008, and
the Ph.D. degree from the Department of Electronics Engineering, IT-BHU, in 2016. He is currently an Associate Professor with the Department
of Electronics and Communication Engineering,
R. K. G. I. T., Ghaziabad, India. His research areas
of interest include MOS sensors, plasma processed
materials and devices, and thin-film devices.

Sunny received the M.Sc. degree from Kurukshetra

University, Haryana, India, in 2009, the M.Tech.
degree from Thapar University, Patiala, India, in
2011, and the Ph.D. degree from the Department
of Electronics Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (Banaras Hindu University), Varanasi, India,
in 2015. He is currently a Faculty Member with
the Department of Electronics and Communication
Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Allahabad, Allahabad, India. His current research interests include neural network, gas sensors and pattern
recognition, e-noses, microelectronics, and VLSI design.

V. N. Mishra received the Ph.D. degree in electronics engineering

from the University of Roorkee, Roorkee, India, in 1998. He is currently a Professor with the Department of Electronics Engineering, Indian
Institute of Technology (Banaras Hindu University), Varanasi, India.
His current research interests include design and fabrication of IC compatible
gas sensors, neural networks, and PR techniques.

R. Dwivedi received the Ph.D. degree in electronics engineering from the

Indian Institute of Technology (Banaras Hindu University) Varanasi, India,
in 1978. He is currently an Associate Professor with the Department of
Electronics Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (Banaras Hindu
University), Varanasi. He has published over 200 research publications in
various international/national journals and in the proceedings of symposia.
His current research interests include silicon-based and thick-film sensors,
MOS devices photovoltaics, and LSI/VLSI.

R. R. Das received the M.Sc.Eng. degree in electronics and the

Ph.D. degree from IIT Varanasi, India, in 1975 and 1999, respectively.
He is currently a Professor with the Department of Electronics Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (Banaras Hindu University), Varanasi.
His current research interests include neural networks and digital systems.