Semiconductor gas sensor having thermally-isolated site

摘要

A preferred semiconductor gas sensor (l0) of this invention features a gas-interaction site (l2) comprising a gas-sensitive semiconductor thin film (33) and means (26) for heating the film (33) to an operative temperature. The thin film (33) and heating means (26) are carried upon a region (20) of a substrate (l4) that is etched opposite the site (l2) to reduce the thickness of the region (20) and thereby reduce heat flow from region (20) into a surrounding region (2l).