In Earth orbit, atomic oxygen (AO) erodes and degrades many spacecraft materials. Several sensors have been employed to make in situ measurements of these oxygen atom fluxes, yet none has proved suitable for general application to microsatellites. We have investigated the potential of thin-film zinc oxide (ZnO) AO sensors. It is known that single crystal and thin-film semiconductor sensors may be used to measure fluxes of low-energy (thermal) oxygen atoms. This work extends the principle to the measurement of hyperthermal (high energy) oxygen atoms in a ground-based simulation facility. It is found that, upon exposure to AO, the conductance of the ZnO sensors decreases. Moreover, the rate of sensor conductance change is proportional to the flux of oxygen atoms. Two sensors, which were manufactured simultaneously, demonstrated very similar responses when exposed concurrently to hyperthermal AO. Further experiments showed that the sensors were not affected by fluxes of molecular oxygen, but were influenced by ultraviolet (UV) radiation. A ZnO film covered with silica-to prevent the action of AO-was used to examine the influence of UV, which was shown to cause a small, permanent change of the conductance of the semiconductor.


    Zugriff

    Zugriff über TIB

    Verfügbarkeit in meiner Bibliothek prüfen

    Bestellung bei Subito €


    Exportieren, teilen und zitieren



    Titel :

    Thin-film semiconductor sensors for hyperthermal oxygen atoms


    Beteiligte:
    Osborne, J.J. (Autor:in) / Roberts, G.T. (Autor:in) / Chambers, A.R. (Autor:in) / Gabriel, S.B. (Autor:in)

    Erschienen in:

    Erscheinungsdatum :

    2000


    Format / Umfang :

    8 Seiten, 30 Quellen




    Medientyp :

    Aufsatz (Zeitschrift)


    Format :

    Print


    Sprache :

    Englisch




    Hyperthermal-Atomic-Oxygen Generator

    Outlaw, R. A. | NTRS | 1993


    Generating Hyperthermal Atomic Oxygen

    Outlaw, Ronald A. | NTRS | 1988


    DSMC Simulations of Hyperthermal Oxygen Beam Exposures

    Cline, Jason / Minton, Timothy / Braunstein, Matthew | AIAA | 2004


    Erosion of Kapton H® by Hyperthermal Atomic Oxygen

    Deanna Buczala / Amy Brunsvold / Timothy Minton | AIAA | 2006


    Surface Treatment of Materials and Structures by Hyperthermal Atomic Oxygen

    Kleiman, J. / Morison, W. / Gudimenko, Y. et al. | British Library Conference Proceedings | 1994