Impact of morphology on high-speed humidity sensor performance

Author

Steele, John J. ; Gospodyn, James P. ; Sit, Jeremy C. ; Brett, Michael J.

Author_Institution

Electr. & Comput. Eng. Dept., Univ. of Alberta, Edmonton, Alta., Canada

Volume

6

Issue

1

fYear

2006

Firstpage

24

Lastpage

27

Abstract

Capacitive-based humidity sensors were fabricated using unique nanostructured aluminum-oxide thin films. These sensors exhibited extremely fast desorption response times as short as 42 ms. In this paper, we present the effects of varying the thin-film porosity on sensor performance. Specifically, we look at the capacitive response and the desorption response time of the sensors. It was found that increased porosity tends to decrease the desorption response time and increase the relative humidity where the devices become sensitive.

Keywords

aluminium compounds; capacitive sensors; desorption; humidity sensors; nanostructured materials; porosity; porous materials; thin films; vapour deposited coatings; capacitive-based humidity sensors; desorption response time; glancing angle deposition; high-speed humidity sensors; nanostructured aluminum-oxide thin films; relative humidity; sensor capacitive response; sensor performance; thin-film porosity; Atherosclerosis; Capacitive sensors; Delay; Humidity; Morphology; Nanostructures; Optical films; Sputtering; Substrates; Thin film sensors; Glancing angle deposition (GLAD); humidity; nanostructured; porous; thin film;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Sensors Journal, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1530-437X

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JSEN.2005.859359

Filename

1576749