Humidity sensing using SiO films fabricated by an advanced deposition technique

Author

Wu, A.T. ; Brett, M.J. ; Huizinga, A. ; Seto, M.

Author_Institution

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

Volume

3

fYear

1999

fDate

9-12 May 1999

Firstpage

1662

Abstract

A newly developed GLancing Angle Deposition (GLAD) technique is employed to fabricate SiO films with structures controllable in three dimensions on the 10 nm scale for relative humidity (RH) sensing. It is shown that the capacitive sensors have fast response times of three seconds for a step change of RH from 15% to 80% and do not degrade after water immersion. They also have a wide dynamic response range of up to five orders of magnitude, dependent mainly on their microstructures. The relationship between the microstructure of SiO films, the microstructure of the top capping layer, and the performance of the sensors is examined. Possible explanations for the observed results are discussed. Our results indicate that GLAD technique has broad potential in various sensing applications.

Keywords

capacitive sensors; dielectric thin films; electron beam deposition; humidity sensors; silicon compounds; vapour deposition; 10 nm; GLAD technique; SiO; capacitive sensors; capping layer; dynamic response range; glancing angle deposition technique; relative humidity sensing; response times; sensing applications; Capacitive sensors; Degradation; Delay; Dynamic range; Electrodes; Fabrication; Gold; Humidity; Microstructure; Substrates;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Electrical and Computer Engineering, 1999 IEEE Canadian Conference on

Conference_Location

Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

ISSN

0840-7789

Print_ISBN

0-7803-5579-2

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/CCECE.1999.804967

Filename

804967