In this study, thin film of pure zinc oxide (ZnO) and ZnO doped with Ga2O3 films with different concentrations (0, 0.03, 0.05, 0.07 and 0.09)wt% were prepared by pulsed laser deposition. The powder mixture was then sintered in a furnace at 1273 K for 5 h. The resulting powders were thoroughly ground and then pressed using a special press to form discs with a diameter of 1 cm and a thickness of 0.5 cm. The deposition was carried out under a vacuum of 2.5×10−2 mbar on various substrates, including glass for AFM measurements and n-type crystalline silicon wafers for the gas sensor. AFM results revealed a progressive increase in both grain size and roughness with moderate doping and irregularity at high doping levels. Gas-sensing measurements for the oxidizing gas (NO2) and the reducing gas (H2S) were conducted by measuring resistance in the absence and presence of each gas. The prepared sensors (ZnO: Ga2O3) on n-type silicon substrates showed maximum sensitivity (1076.31) at a doping ratio of 3% and an operating temperature of 373 K for nitrogen dioxide gas, with a response time 31.5 s, while the highest sensitivity to H2S gas was 24.53 for pure ZnO at operating temperature of 373 K with a response time of 33.3s. The sensor exhibited remarkable selectivity for NO2 gas due to its oxidizing nature; it extracts electrons from the conduction band of zinc oxide (ZnO), which leads to the expan- sion of the depletion layer and a significant change in electrical resistance.
