A solid-state relative humidity measurement system

The implementation of a solid-state capacitive relative humidity (RH) sensing system which employs a polymer as the moisture-sensitive material is discussed. The sensing mechanism is based on the fact that the dielectric permittivity of the insulating polymer, polyimide (PI), is linearly related to the ambient relative humidity. Therefore, the capacitance of a parallel-plate device using PI as the dielectric is a linear function of ambient RH (because PI does not swell during moisture absorption). Standard IC processing techniques are used to fabricate the PI-based integrated sensor capacitor. In order for such as sensor to be useful in the field, a voltage, current, or frequency output is desirable. A discrete capacitance-to-voltage converter circuit using this sensor capacitor has been constructed. The performance of this system is reported.>