polypyrrole porous micro humidity sensor integrated with a ring oscillator circuit on chip聚吡咯多孔微湿度传感器与环形振荡器电路集成在芯片上.pdfVIP

Sensors 2010, 10, 10095-10104; doi:10.3390/s101110095 OPEN ACCESS sensors ISSN 1424-8220 /journal/sensors Article Polypyrrole Porous Micro Humidity Sensor Integrated with a Ring Oscillator Circuit on Chip Ming-Zhi Yang, Ching-Liang Dai * and De-Hao Lu Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung, 402, Taiwan; E-Mails: g9761312@.tw (M.-Z.Y.); g9561109@.tw (D.-H.L.) * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: cldai@.tw; Tel.: +886-4-2284-0433; Fax: +886-4-2287-7170. Received: 25 September 2010; in revised form: 28 October 2010 / Accepted: 28 October 2010 / Published: 10 November 2010 Abstract: This study presents the design and fabrication of a capacitive micro humidity sensor integrated with a five-stage ring oscillator circuit on chip using the complimentary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) process. The area of the humidity sensor chip is about 2 1 mm . The humidity sensor consists of a sensing capacitor and a sensing film. The sensing capacitor is constructed from spiral interdigital electrodes that can enhance the sensitivity of the sensor. The sensing film of the sensor is polypyrrole, which is prepared by the chemical polymerization method, and the film has a porous structure. The sensor needs a post-CMOS process to coat the sensing film. The post-CMOS process uses a wet etching to etch the sacrificial layers, and then the polypyrrole is coated on the sensing capacitor. The sensor generates a change