A Ceramic Thick Film Humidity Sensor Based on MnZn Ferrite

Sensors

K. Arshaka¹  K. Twomey¹ 

[1] Microelectronics and Semiconductor Research Group, ECE Department, National Technological Park, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland

关键词: Ceramic;    Thick film;    Sensor;    Temperature and humidity sensitivity;   

DOI  :  10.3390/s20200050

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

A ceramic thick film humidity sensor, produced from MnZn ferrite, is presented. The proposed sensing mechanism is a combination of proton hopping, hydronium diffusion, and vacancy donor traps releasing electrons into the conduction band. The sensor structure comprises a two-layer device; the first layer is an interdigitated conductor and the second layer is a 30μm thick sensing layer. The effects of sintering the sensing pastes in air and vacuum have been reported. The air-fired sample exhibits the highest humidity sensitivity (1.54%/RH%) and the lowest temperature sensitivity (0.37%/^oC). The vacuum-fired sample has the lowest humidity sensitivity (0.043%/RH) and the highest temperature sensitivity (0.77%/^oC). The sensitivity results indicate that the air-fired sample has the best potential for use in humidity sensing applications.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.