阅读说明：本技术 一种自校正mems电容式湿度传感器及其制备方法 (Self-correcting MEMS capacitive humidity sensor and preparation method thereof ) 是由 李维平 李军伟 董旭光 兰之康 于 2021-03-18 设计创作，主要内容包括：本发明提出一种自校正MEMS电容式湿度传感器及其制备方法,包括依次堆叠的帕尔贴制冷器及湿度敏感电容,将MEMS敏感电容与帕尔贴制冷器集成,从而通过帕尔贴制冷器控制敏感电容的温度,可以近似获得相对湿度为0和100%时的电容输出值。进而对湿度传感器的输出进行校正。整个校正过程简单,并且可以由外部电路控制自动完成,提高传感器的测量精度,降低校正成本。(The invention provides a self-correcting MEMS capacitive humidity sensor and a preparation method thereof, which comprises a Peltier refrigerator and a humidity sensitive capacitor which are sequentially stacked, wherein the MEMS sensitive capacitor and the Peltier refrigerator are integrated, so that the temperature of the sensitive capacitor is controlled through the Peltier refrigerator, and the capacitor output values when the relative humidity is 0% and 100% can be approximately obtained. And further corrects the output of the humidity sensor. The whole correction process is simple, and can be automatically completed under the control of an external circuit, so that the measurement precision of the sensor is improved, and the correction cost is reduced.)

1. A self-calibrating MEMS capacitive humidity sensor comprising a peltier cooler and a humidity sensitive capacitor stacked in series, wherein:

the Peltier refrigerator includes:

a first ceramic substrate;

a first electrode array disposed on the first ceramic substrate;

a thermocouple array disposed on the first electrode array;

a second electrode array disposed on the thermocouple array;

a second ceramic substrate disposed on the second electrode array;

the humidity sensitive capacitor includes:

a first humidity-sensitive capacitive electrode disposed on the second ceramic substrate;

a humidity sensitive material layer disposed on the first humidity sensitive capacitive electrode;

a second humidity-sensitive capacitive electrode disposed on the humidity-sensitive material layer.

2. The self-calibrating MEMS capacitive humidity sensor of claim 1 wherein the thermocouple array is formed by alternating P-type and N-type doped bismuth telluride materials.

3. A self-calibrating MEMS capacitive humidity sensor according to claim 1 or 2 wherein the humidity sensitive material layer and/or the second humidity sensitive capacitive electrode comprises a porous metal material.

4. The self-calibrating MEMS capacitive humidity sensor of claim 3 wherein the porous metal material is an alumina porous membrane or a gold porous membrane.

5. A self-calibrating MEMS capacitive humidity sensor as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the electrodes on the left and right sides of the first electrode array are the inputs or outputs of the peltier cooler.

6. A method of humidity detection calibration of a self-calibrating MEMS capacitive humidity sensor according to any of claims 1 to 5, comprising the steps of:

detecting a first capacitance output value C of the capacitive humidity sensor at normal temperature₀；

Loading a control current to make theThe humidity sensitive capacitor above the Peltier refrigerator is cooled until the output capacitor is stable to obtain a second capacitor output value C₁；

Loading current opposite to the control current to heat the humidity sensitive capacitor above the Peltier refrigerator until the output capacitor is stable to obtain a third capacitor output value C₂；

According to C₀、C₁、C₂The relative humidity is obtained.

7. The method for humidity detection and calibration of a self-calibrating MEMS capacitive humidity sensor of claim 6, wherein the relative humidity is based onObtained or obtained by curve fitting.

8. A method of making a self-calibrating MEMS capacitive humidity sensor according to any of claims 1 to 5, comprising the steps of:

selecting a Peltier refrigerator as a substrate;

preparing a first humidity sensitive capacitor electrode on the upper surface of the Peltier refrigerator;

forming a sensitive material layer on the first humidity sensitive capacitor electrode, wherein the sensitive material layer is made of porous metal;

and depositing metal on the sensitive material layer to prepare and form a second humidity sensitive capacitor electrode.

9. The method of making a self-calibrating MEMS capacitive humidity sensor of claim 8 wherein the deposited metal is deposited using an oblique incidence evaporation process.

10. The method of making a self-calibrating MEMS capacitive humidity sensor of claim 9 wherein the second humidity sensitive capacitive electrode is a porous metal electrode.

Technical Field

The invention belongs to the field of micro-electromechanical system sensors, and particularly relates to a self-correcting MEMS capacitive humidity sensor and a preparation method thereof.

Background

The humidity sensor is widely applied to the fields of industry, agriculture, smart home and the like. The humidity sensor utilizes the change of the electrical characteristics (such as resistance or capacitance) of the sensitive medium after moisture absorption to further represent the change of the humidity. The performance of a humidity sensor is mainly determined by the sensitive medium, but the characteristics of the sensitive medium change with time.

Long term stability of humidity sensors and calibration issues have been a focus of attention. In 1998, Masanobu Matsuguch et al studied the long-term stability problem of polyimide-based capacitive humidity sensors. In 2007, the long-term stability problem of the porous silicon humidity sensor was studied by t.islam (name of a person) and corrected by a software compensation method. In 2015, Vinod Kumar Khanna (name of people) was added to Al₂O₃The long-term stability of the humidity sensitive material is studied, and Al is established₂O₃The aging model of the material provides a basis for the correction of the relevant humidity sensor.

The aging drift of the humidity sensor is mainly reflected in zero drift and sensitivity drift. Existing humidity sensors often require calibration using specialized equipment on a regular basis, and typically, humidity sensors need to be calibrated once every half year. The calibration work of the humidity sensor is high in professional and high in cost, and in addition, if the calibration is not timely, the problems of error increase, inaccurate measurement results and the like of the humidity sensor can be caused.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention aims to provide a self-correcting MEMS capacitive humidity sensor, which can automatically compensate measurement errors caused by drift when the zero point or the sensitivity of the humidity sensor drifts, improve the test precision of the sensor and reduce the correction cost.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a self-correcting MEMS capacitive humidity sensor and a method for manufacturing the same, the specific scheme is as follows:

a self-calibrating MEMS capacitive humidity sensor comprising a peltier cooler and a humidity sensitive capacitor stacked in series, wherein:

the Peltier refrigerator includes:

a first ceramic substrate;

a first electrode array disposed on the first ceramic substrate;

a thermocouple array disposed on the first electrode array;

a second electrode array disposed on the thermocouple array;

a second ceramic substrate disposed on the second electrode array;

the humidity sensitive capacitor includes:

a first humidity-sensitive capacitive electrode disposed on the second ceramic substrate;

a humidity sensitive material layer disposed on the first humidity sensitive capacitive electrode;

a second humidity-sensitive capacitive electrode disposed on the humidity-sensitive material layer.

Optionally, the thermocouple array is formed by alternately arranging P-type doped bismuth telluride materials and N-type doped bismuth telluride materials.

Optionally, the humidity sensitive material layer and/or the second humidity sensitive capacitive electrode comprises a porous metal material.

Optionally, the porous metal material is an alumina porous film or a gold porous film.

Optionally, the electrodes on the left and right sides of the first electrode array are input ends or output ends of the peltier cooler.

The invention also provides a humidity detection and correction method according to the self-correcting MEMS capacitive humidity sensor, which comprises the following steps:

detecting a first capacitance output value C of the capacitive humidity sensor at normal temperature₀；

Loading control current to cool the humidity sensitive capacitor above the Peltier refrigerator until the output capacitor is stable to obtain a second capacitor output value C₁；

Applying a current in a direction opposite to the control current to make the peltier cooler humidity sensitiveThe capacitor is heated until the output capacitor is stable to obtain a third capacitor output value C₂；

According to C₀、C₁、C₂The relative humidity is obtained.

Optionally, the relative humidity is according toObtained or obtained by curve fitting.

The invention provides a preparation method of a self-correcting MEMS capacitive humidity sensor, which comprises the following steps:

selecting a Peltier refrigerator as a substrate;

preparing a first humidity sensitive capacitor electrode on the upper surface of the Peltier refrigerator;

forming a sensitive material layer on the first humidity sensitive capacitor electrode, wherein the sensitive material layer is made of porous metal;

and depositing metal on the sensitive material layer to prepare and form a second humidity sensitive capacitor electrode.

Optionally, the deposited metal is subjected to an oblique incidence evaporation process.

Optionally, the second humidity sensitive capacitive electrode is a porous metal electrode.

The invention has the following beneficial effects:

the MEMS sensitive capacitor is integrated with the Peltier refrigerator. The output values of the capacitor at 0 and 100% relative humidity can be approximated by controlling the temperature of the sensitive capacitor through a peltier cooler. And further corrects the output of the humidity sensor. The whole correction process is simple, and can be automatically completed under the control of an external circuit, so that the measurement precision of the sensor is improved, and the correction cost is reduced.

Drawings

One or more embodiments are illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawings, which correspond to the figures in which like reference numerals refer to similar elements and which are not to scale unless otherwise specified.

FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a humidity sensor according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a self-calibration process of a humidity sensor according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 3 is a schematic view of a manufacturing process of a humidity sensor according to an embodiment of the invention.

In the figure: 1. the humidity sensor comprises a first ceramic substrate, a first electrode array, a thermocouple array, a second electrode array, a second ceramic substrate, a first humidity sensitive capacitor electrode, a second humidity sensitive capacitor electrode, a sensitive material layer and a second humidity sensitive capacitor electrode, wherein the first ceramic substrate is 2, the first electrode array is 3, the thermocouple array is 4, the second electrode array is 5, the second ceramic substrate is 6, the first humidity sensitive capacitor electrode is 7, and the second humidity sensitive capacitor electrode.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present invention more apparent, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, it will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that numerous technical details are set forth in order to provide a better understanding of the present application in various embodiments of the present invention. However, the technical solution claimed in the present application can be implemented without these technical details and various changes and modifications based on the following embodiments. The following embodiments are divided for convenience of description, and should not constitute any limitation to the specific implementation manner of the present invention, and the embodiments may be mutually incorporated and referred to without contradiction.

Example 1

Referring to fig. 1, the present invention provides a self-calibrating MEMS capacitive humidity sensor.

This MEMS capacitanc humidity transducer is from supreme paler subsides refrigerator and the sensitive electric capacity of humidity of piling up in proper order down, wherein:

the Peltier refrigerator includes:

a first ceramic substrate 1;

a first electrode array 2 disposed on the first ceramic substrate 1;

a thermocouple array 3, the thermocouple array 3 being disposed on the first electrode array 2;

a second electrode array 4, the second electrode array 4 being disposed on the thermocouple array 3;

a second ceramic substrate 5, the second ceramic substrate 5 being disposed on the second electrode array 4;

the humidity sensitive capacitor includes:

a first humidity-sensitive capacitive electrode 6, the first humidity-sensitive capacitive electrode 6 being disposed on the second ceramic substrate 5;

the humidity sensitive material layer 7 is arranged on the first humidity sensitive capacitor electrode 6, and the humidity sensitive material layer 7 is arranged on the first humidity sensitive capacitor electrode 6;

and the second humidity sensitive capacitor electrode 8 is arranged on the humidity sensitive material layer 7.

Peltier refrigerators, also called thermoelectric refrigerators or thermoelectric refrigerators, utilize the Peltier effect; in this embodiment, the thermocouple array 3 of the peltier cooler is formed by alternately arranging a P-type doped bismuth telluride material and an N-type doped bismuth telluride material. The control current is introduced from the left end and the right end of the first electrode array 2, when the current directions are different, heat absorption and heat release phenomena are generated at the thermocouple node, and when the surface of the first ceramic substrate 1 is heated, the surface of the second ceramic substrate 5 is cooled, and the current directions are changed, so that the heat absorption and heat release behaviors are opposite.

For the humidity sensitive capacitor, the first humidity sensitive capacitor electrode 6, the humidity sensitive material layer 7 and the second humidity sensitive capacitor electrode 8 form a sandwich-structured sensitive capacitor. The sensitive material layer 7 is made of porous alumina, for example, and other materials such as PI are also suitable. The second humidity-sensitive capacitor electrode is in contact with the external environment, and is made of a porous metal material with air permeability, such as porous gold.

Example 2

The working principle of the self-correcting MEMS capacitive humidity sensor provided by the invention is as follows:

according to the definition of relative humidity RH:

RH =Pw/Pws ·100%

where Pw is the vapor pressure of water and Pws is the saturated vapor pressure of water.

The saturated vapor pressure Pws is influenced by the temperature T:

wherein A, m and T_nAre all empirical parameters. It can be seen that when the external humidity environment is constant, the sensor temperature is decreased, the local Pws is decreased, and when the local Pws and the external Pw are equal, the corresponding temperature is the dew point T_dThe calculation formula is as follows:

when the local temperature of the sensitive material is lower than the dew point, the sensitive material layer of the sensor is dewed, and the capacitance output is approximately equal to that when the relative humidity is 100%; conversely, increasing the chip temperature increases the local Pws, and the heat causes moisture to be expelled from the sensitive material to the outside. When the temperature is high enough, the capacitance output can approach the result when the relative humidity is 0.

Thus, referring to fig. 2, the self-calibration method of the self-calibrating MEMS capacitive humidity sensor proposed by the present invention is as follows:

s1, detecting the first capacitance output value C of the capacitance type humidity sensor at normal temperature₀；

S2, loading control current to cool the humidity sensitive capacitor above the Peltier refrigerator until the output capacitor is stable to obtain a second capacitor output value C₁；

S3, loading current opposite to the control current to heat the humidity sensitive capacitor above the Peltier refrigerator until the output capacitor is stable, and obtaining a third capacitor output value C₂；

S4 according to C₀、C₁、C₂The relative humidity is obtained.

Specifically, the method comprises the following steps: when detecting humidity, firstly measuring the output value C of the sensitive capacitor at normal temperature₀，C₀Outputting the first capacitance value, and then loading appropriate control current to cool the sensitive capacitance above the Peltier refrigerator, so that water vapor is condensed in the sensitive material layer until the outputThe output capacitance is stable, and the output capacitance C at this moment₁Value of the sensitive capacitance output, C, at approximately 100%₁Is the second capacitance output value; the control current is reversed again to control the temperature rise of the sensitive capacitor above the Peltier refrigerator, so that the water vapor in the sensitive material layer is forced to evaporate until the output capacitor is stable, and the output capacitor at the moment is the third capacitor output value C₂The value of the sensitive capacitance output at approximately 0%.

For a sensitive capacitor with good linearity, the relative humidity is controlled byIt is given. The relative humidity value can also be obtained by curve fitting for the sensitive capacitance of the nonlinear characteristic.

When the zero point of the sensor drifts, C₂Will change synchronously to compensate the influence of zero drift on humidity measurement, when the sensitivity of the humidity sensor drifts, C₁-C₂The changes will be synchronized to compensate for the effect of sensitivity drift on the humidity measurement. The sensor has a self-correcting function.

Example 3

The invention also provides a manufacturing method of the self-correcting MEMS capacitive humidity sensor aiming at the embodiment 1, which comprises the following steps:

as shown in fig. 3: the method comprises the following steps:

s1-1, selecting a Peltier refrigerator as a substrate;

s1-2, preparing a first humidity sensitive capacitor electrode on the upper surface of the Peltier refrigerator;

s1-3, forming a sensitive material layer on the first humidity sensitive capacitor electrode, wherein the sensitive material layer is made of porous metal;

and S1-4, depositing metal on the sensitive material layer to prepare and form a second humidity sensitive capacitor electrode.

Specifically, a commercial peltier cooler composed of a first ceramic substrate 1, a first electrode array 2, a thermocouple array 3, a second electrode array 4, and a second ceramic substrate 5 is selected as a substrate. Then, sputtering metallic aluminum on the upper surface of the second ceramic substrate 5, and performing photolithography patterning and dry etchingA lower sensitive capacitance electrode, i.e. a first sensitive capacitance electrode 6, is formed. Then, for example, Al is added by a transfer process₂O₃And a porous film covers the first sensitive capacitance electrode 6, and a sensitive material layer 7 is formed by photoetching, patterning and dry etching. Finally, the sensitive capacitor upper electrode, namely the second sensitive capacitor electrode 8 is formed by depositing metal gold through an oblique incidence evaporation process, photoetching and patterning and dry etching.

In the step, the oblique incidence evaporation process is adopted to ensure that the formed metal electrode has a porous form, so that the upper electrode of the sensitive capacitor has an adsorption effect.

The MEMS sensitive capacitor and the Peltier refrigerator are integrated, so that the temperature of the sensitive capacitor is controlled through the Peltier refrigerator, and the capacitor output values when the relative humidity is 0% and 100% can be approximately obtained. And further corrects the output of the humidity sensor. The whole correction process is simple, and can be automatically completed under the control of an external circuit, so that the measurement precision of the sensor is improved, and the correction cost is reduced.

It will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that the foregoing embodiments are specific examples for carrying out the invention, and that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention in practice.