Sensors and Actuators B 123 (2007) 896–901

A nanowire WO3 humidity sensor integrated with micro-heater

and inverting amplifier circuit on chip manufactured
using CMOS-MEMS technique
Ching-Liang Dai a,∗ , Mao-Chen Liu a , Fu-Song Chen a ,
Chyan-Chyi Wu b , Ming-Wei Chang c
a Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung 402, Taiwan, ROC
b Center for Measurement Standards, Industrial Technology Research Institute, Hsinchu 300, Taiwan, ROC
c Center for RFID Technology, Industrial Technology Research Institute, Hsinchu 310, Taiwan, ROC

Received 4 August 2006; received in revised form 25 October 2006; accepted 26 October 2006
Available online 29 November 2006

Abstract
The fabrication of a nanowire WO3 humidity sensor integrated with an inverting amplifier circuit and a micro-heater on a chip using the
commercial 0.35 ␮m complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) process and a post-process have been implemented. The humidity
sensor is composed of a sensing resistor and a humidity sensing film. Tungsten trioxide prepared by a sol–gel method is adopted as the humidity
sensing film. The fabrication of the humidity sensor requires a post-process to etch the sacrificial layers and to expose the sensing resistor, and
then the humidity sensing film is coated over the sensing resistor. The humidity sensor, which is a resistive type, changes the resistance when
the sensing film adsorbs or desorbs water vapor. An inverting amplifier circuit is utilized to convert the resistance of the humidity sensor into the
voltage output. The micro-heater is utilized to provide a super-ambient working temperature to the humidity sensor, which can avoid the humidity
sensor to generate the signal drift. Experimental results show that the sensitivity of the humidity sensor is about 4.5 mV/% RH at 60 ◦ C.
© 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Humidity sensor; CMOS; Micro-heater; Inverting amplifier circuit

1. Introduction small size, low weight, high performance, easy mass-production

Humidity sensors that are utilized to detect humidity and
moisture are important devices in many industrial and biomed-
ical applications. For instance, Tetelin et al. [1] developed a
capacitive humidity sensor to equip a medical microsystem for
diagnosis of pulmonary diseases. Boisen et al. [2] proposed
a humidity sensor for monitoring environment. Dokmeci and
Najafi [3] reported a high sensitivity humidity sensor for moni-
toring hermetic micropackages. Bokmann et al. [4] presented a
humidity sensor for industrial humidity measurement.
Various microsensors have been manufactured using micro-
electromechanical systems (MEMS) technology [5]. Humidity
sensors fabricated by MEMS technology have the advantage of
∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +886 4 22840433; fax: +886 4 22877170.
E-mail address: cldai@dragon.nchu.edu.tw (C.-L. Dai).
and low cost [6]. Several studies have recently used MEMS
technology to fabricate micro-humidity sensors. For instance,
O’Halloran et al. [7] employed bulk micromachining technique
to fabricate a capacitive porous silicon humidity sensor. Rit-
tersma et al. [8] fabricated a capacitive porous silicon humidity
sensor using a surface micromachining technique. Park et al. [9]
presented a thin-film surface micromachining technique to make
humidity sensors. Boltshauser et al. [10] utilized an industrial
CMOS process to make a resonant humidity sensor, which was
based on silicon-oxide resonators coated with vapor-absorbent
polyimide thin films achieving a sensitivity of 270 Hz/% RH. A
capacitive humidity sensor with an anodized aluminum oxide
(Al2 O3 ) thin film, proposed by Nahar [11], had a sensitivity of
100 pF/% RH. Story et al. [12] developed a polymetric humid-
ity sensor, and its sensitivity was 10 k/% RH. A surface and
bulk micromachining process, reported by Lee et al. [13], was
employed to fabricate a capacitive humidity sensor with sus-
pending structures, which had a sensitivity of 2 nF/% RH.

0925-4005/$ – see front matter © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.snb.2006.10.055
 C.-L. Dai et al. / Sensors and Actuators B 123 (2007) 896–901 897

The CMOS-MEMS technique [14] uses the commercial

CMOS process, usually employed to produce integrated circuits
(IC), to fabricate MEMS devices. Many microdevices such as
tunable resonators [15], micromirror arrays [16] and microwave
switches [17] fabricated by the CMOS-MEMS technique require
a post-process to release the suspended structures or coat the
functional films. The advantage of micromachined devices fab-
ricated by the CMOS-MEMS technique is its ability to integrate
with circuits as a system on a chip (SOC) due to their compati-
bility with the CMOS process.
In this study, we employ the CMOS-MEMS technique to
fabricate a nanowire WO3 humidity sensor integrated with a
micro-heater and an inverting amplifier circuit on a chip, which
can enhance the performance and reduce the volume and cost.
The area of the integrated humidity sensor chip is about 1 mm2 .
Fig. 2. Cross-section of the integrated humidity sensor.
2. Structure of the integrated humidity sensor
fier and resistances is employed to convert the resistance of
Fig. 1 illustrates the humidity sensor integrated with a micro- the humidity sensor into the voltage output. The cross-sectional
heater and an inverting amplifier circuit. The humidity sensor, view of the integrated humidity sensor is shown in Fig. 2. The
which is composed of a humidity sensing film and a sensing tungsten trioxide film is located at the surface layer of the humid-
resistor, is a resistive type. The sensing resistor is a polysili- ity sensor. A silicon dioxide layer is located between the tungsten
con winding line. The humidity sensing film is tungsten trioxide trioxide film and the sensing resistor. The sensing resistor is
which is prepared by a sol–gel method and coated on the sensing 2 ␮m wide, 0.4 ␮m thick and 4000 ␮m long.
resistor. The micro-heater is used to provide a super-ambient Fig. 3 shows the energy band diagram of the humidity sen-
working temperature, which can avoid the humidity sensor to sor. The tungsten trioxide is an n-type semiconductor, and the
generate the signal drift. The material of the micro-heater is the
polysilicon layer of the CMOS process. The sensing resistor,
which is connected to the inverting amplifier circuit, changes its
resistance as the sensing film adsorbs or desorbs water vapor. The
inverting amplifier circuit that contains an operational ampli-

Fig. 1. Schematic structure of the humidity sensor integrated with heater and
circuit.
Fig. 3. Energy band diagram of the sensor for (a) a low humidity and (b) a high
humidity. EF is the Fermi level, Ec-WO3 is the conduction band of WO3 , Ev-WO3
is the valence band of WO3 , EFi-WO3 is the intrinsic Fermi level of WO3 , Ec-poly
is the conduction band of polysilicon, Ev-poly is the valence band of polysilicon,
and EFi-poly is the intrinsic Fermi of polysilicon.
898 C.-L. Dai et al. / Sensors and Actuators B 123 (2007) 896–901

polysilicon is p-type. When the surface of WO3 is exposed to

water vapor, electrons are produced at the surface of WO3 due
to the electron-donating adsorption [18]. As shown in Fig. 3(a),
an accumulation of electrons is formed at the surface of WO3
when H2 O(gas) interacts with WO3 , so that the conduction and
valence band edges of WO3 bend downward, leading to generate
a negative surface potential, φs [19]. An accumulation of holes
at the oxide–polysilicon interface is formed by the negative sur-
face potential φs , which causes the conduction and valence band
edges of polysilicon to bend upward as shown in Fig. 3(a) and
results in the production of the potential barrier, Vs . The conduc-
tance of polysilicon, G, is determined by the potential barrier,
Vs , as described by the following relationship [20]:
  Fig. 5. Frequency response of the operational amplifier.
qVs
G = gqμs Nd exp − (1)
kT
fier and inverting amplifier circuit. Fig. 5 depicts the simulated
where q represents the electronic charge, g is a constant deter- results of the frequency response for the operational amplifier.
mined by the semiconductor geometry, μs is the mobility of The dc open loop gain of the operational amplifier is approxi-
electrons, Nd is the density of donors, k is the Boltzmann con- mately 82 dB, and the phase margin of the operational amplifier
stant, and T is the absolute temperature. According to Eq. (1), is about 53◦ . Fig. 6 reveals the simulated results of the inverting
the conductance of the polysilicon reduces as the potential bar- amplifier circuit. In this simulation, the input voltage Vin is 1 V,
rier Vs increases, which leads to an increase in resistance of the the resistance R1 is given with 10 k and the resistance of the
polysilicon. Fig. 3(b) illustrates the energy band diagram of the humidity sensor Rs varies from 12 to 45 k. The output voltage
humidity sensor in a highly humid environment. The surface of the inverting amplifier circuit changes from 1.07 to 1.67 V as
potential φs increases when the WO3 film of the humidity sen- the resistance of the humidity sensor varies from 12 to 45 k.
sor interacts with more water vapor, resulting in an increment of
the potential barrier Vs and a decrement of the polysilicon con- 3. Fabrication of the integrated humidity sensor
ductance G. Therefore, the resistance of polysilicon increases as
the humidity sensed by the WO3 increases. The integrated humidity sensor chip is manufactured by the
The inverting amplifier circuit shown in Fig. 1 is employed commercial 0.35 ␮m CMOS process of Taiwan Semiconductor
to convert the resistance variation of the humidity sensor into Manufacturing Company (TSMC). The chip requires a post-
a voltage output. If the operational amplifier is ideal, then the process to etch the sacrificial layers and to coat the humidity
output voltage of the circuit can be expressed as sensing film after completion of the CMOS process. The process
Rs flow of the integrated chip is illustrated in Fig. 7. The cross-
Vo = − Vin (2) section of the integrated chip after completion of the CMOS
R1
process is shown in Fig. 7(a). The chip consists of the humid-
where Rs represents the resistance of the sensing resistor in the ity sensor, micro-heater and circuit. In the humidity sensor, the
humidity sensor, R1 is a constant resistance (10 k in the design) metal and via layers are adopted as the sacrificial layers, and
and Vin is the input voltage. Fig. 4 shows the design of the oper- the polysilicon layer is used as the sensing resistor and micro-
ational amplifier circuit, where VDD represents a voltage power heater. The materials of the metal and via layers are aluminum
supply and VSS is the ground. Professional circuit simulation
software, HSPICE, is used to analyze the operational ampli-

Fig. 4. Design of the operational amplifier circuit. Fig. 6. Simulated results of the inverting amplifier circuit.
 C.-L. Dai et al. / Sensors and Actuators B 123 (2007) 896–901
Fig. 7. Process flow of the humidity sensor: (a) after the CMOS process, (b)
etching sacrificial layers, and (c) coating the sensing film.
(Al) and tungsten (W), respectively. Fig. 7(b) shows that the
chip is immersed in two etchants: one is an Al etchant with
phosphoric acid, nitric acid, acetic acid and deionized water in
a ratio of 14:1:2:3. The other is a W etchant with sulfuric acid
and hydrogen peroxide in a ratio of 2:1. The sacrificial layers are
removed from the humidity sensor, exposing the sensing resis-
tor. Fig. 8 shows the photograph of an integrated humidity sensor
Fig. 8. A photograph of the integrated humidity sensor chip after the wet etching
process.
899
Fig. 9. A SEM image of tungsten trioxide film.
chip after the wet etching process. Then, the chip is put in an
oven at 140 ◦ C for 2 h, so that the polysilicon surface grows a thin
silicon dioxide layer. Finally, the tungsten trioxide is coated on
the sensing resistor as shown in Fig. 7(c). The tungsten trioxide,
which is made by a sol–gel method [21], is prepared according
to the following steps: (1) 2.02 g Na2 WO4 ·2H2 O is mixed with
100 ml deionized water and stirred until a homogenous solution
is obtained; (2) the solution of 1 ml H2 SO4 is added into the
Na2 WO4 ·2H2 O solution with stirring until the mixing solution
becomes homogenous, producing a primrose yellow slurry; (3)
the product is aged at room temperature for 240 h; (4) the result-
ing product is filtered, dropped on the humidity sensor chip,
followed by calcination in air at 150 ◦ C for 3 h. Fig. 9 shows
a scanning electron microscopy (SEM) image of the tungsten
trioxide film. The sensing film, which is constructed by many
nanowires of tungsten trioxide as shown in Fig. 9, is porous and
has a large surface area.
4. Results and discussion
A power supply, a function generator, an oscilloscope and a
test chamber (GTH-099-40-1P, Giant Force Instruments Enter-
prise Co.) were employed to measure the performance of the
integrated humidity sensor chip. The sensor chip was set in the
test chamber. The power supply and function generator provided
a bias voltage of 3.3 V and an input voltage of 1 V, respectively,
to the inverting amplifier circuit in the sensor chip. The oscillo-
scope was utilized to record the output signal of the sensor to
humidity changes. The test chamber was capable of providing a
temperature range of 0–100 ◦ C and a humidity range of 25–95%
RH. In the test chamber, the temperature and humidity could be
tuned separately and maintained at constant levels.
The test chamber supplies different humidity levels, and the
humidity sensor changes its resistance as the humidity rises or
drops. The output voltage of the inverting amplifier circuit is
measured by the oscilloscope. Fig. 10 shows the output voltage
changes of the inverting amplifier circuit. In this investigation,
the temperature was maintained constant at 75 ◦ C, while the
humidity was increased from 25% RH to 85% RH in 35 min and
900 C.-L. Dai et al. / Sensors and Actuators B 123 (2007) 896–901
Fig. 10. Measured results of the humidity sensor at 75 ◦ C.
then dehumidified to 25% RH at the same rate. The experiments
revealed that the humidity sensor exhibited a small degree of
humidity hysteresis. With the same procedure, the output voltage
of the humidity sensor was measured in the humidity range from
25% RH to 85% RH at constant temperatures of 25, 30, 45 and
60 ◦ C. Fig. 11 displays the measured results of the humidity
sensor at different temperatures. The humidity sensitivity, which
could be obtained by the linear fitting to the data in Fig. 11, was
4.5 mV/% RH at 60 ◦ C and 4.8 mV/% RH at 75 ◦ C. The results
showed that the humidity sensitivity increased as the temperature
rose. Therefore, the humidity sensor has the disadvantage of the
variation in humidity sensitivity with ambient temperature.
The micro-heater in the chip was adopted to provide a super-
ambient working temperature to the humidity sensor in order
to overcome the influence of ambient temperature. A dc power
supply provided different voltages of 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 V to the
micro-heater, and the test chamber was maintained at a constant
temperature of 25 ◦ C. In this experiment, the humidity sensor
was heated by the micro-heater, and was not heated by the test
chamber. Fig. 12 displays the measured results of the humid-
ity sensor with the micro-heater under different voltages. The
results showed that the micro-heater could be used to provide the
working temperature of the humidity sensor. The humidity sen-
sor should not produce any signal drift if the ambient temperature
is lower than the working temperature from the micro-heater.
Fig. 11. Measured results of the humidity sensor at different temperatures.
Fig. 12. Measured results of the humidity sensor with the micro-heater under
different voltages.
5. Conclusion
The nanowire tungsten trioxide humidity sensors integrated
with an inverting amplifier circuit and a micro-heater were suc-
cessfully implemented using the commercial 0.35 ␮m CMOS
process and the post-process. The humidity sensor contained a
sensing film and a sensing resistor. The sensing film, which was
prepared by a sol–gel method, was the structure of nanowire
tungsten trioxide. The humidity sensor, which was a resistive
type, changed its resistance when the sensitive film adsorbed or
desorbed water vapor. The inverting amplifier circuit was used
to convert the change in resistance of the humidity sensor into
a voltage output. The post-process utilized etchants to etch the
sacrificial layers to expose the sensing resistor, and then tungsten
trioxide was coated on the sensing resistor. Experimental results
showed that the sensitivity of the humidity sensor was about
4.5 mV/% RH at 60 ◦ C and 4.8 mV/% RH at 75 ◦ C. The humid-
ity sensor had a variation in humidity sensitivity with ambient
temperature. In order to solve the influence of ambient temper-
ature, the micro-heater was adopted to provide a super-ambient
working temperature to the humidity sensor, which could avoid
the humidity sensor to generate the signal drift.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank National Center for High-
performance Computing (NCHC) for chip simulation, National
Chip Implementation Center (CIC) for chip fabrication and
the National Science Council of the Republic of China for
financially supporting this research under Contract No. NSC
95-2221-E-005-043-MY2.
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Biographies
Ching-Liang Dai received the MS degree in the applied mechanics from
National Taiwan University, Taiwan, in 1993, and the PhD degree in the mechan-
ical engineering from Nation Taiwan University, in 1997. He is currently an
associate professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, National
Chung Hsing University, Taiwan. His research interests are CMOS-MEMS,
integrated microsensors and RF MEMS.
Mao-Chen Liu received the MS degree in the precision engineering from
National Chung Hsing University, Taiwan, in 2004. He is currently a candi-
date for doctor’s degree at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, National
Chung Hsing University, Taiwan. His research interests are semiconductor sen-
sors, analog circuits and radio frequency circuits.
Fu-Song Chen received the BS degree in the mechanical engineering from
National Chung Hsing University, Taiwan, in 2004, and the MS degree in the pre-
cision engineering from National Chung Hsing University, in 2006. His research
interests are gas sensors and micro-actuators.
Chyan-Chyi Wu received the PhD degree in the mechanical engineering from
National Taiwan University, Taiwan, in 2001. He is currently a researcher
at Industrial Technology Research Institute, Taiwan. His research interests
are optical physics, biophysics, optical interferometry and near-filed/far-field
microscopy.
Ming-Wei Chang received the BS degree in the mechanical engineering from
Huafan University, Taiwan, in 2000 and the MS degree in the mechatronics engi-
neering from Huafan University, Taiwan, in 2002. He is currently an engineering
researcher and an advanced project leader at the RFID center, Industrial Tech-
nology Research Institute, Taiwan. His research interests are micromachined
transducers and Bio-MEMS.