• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.337-341
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• 2010

In this work, the nanocrystalline ZnO/polycrystalline(poly) aluminum nitride(AlN)/ Si-layered structure was fabricated for humidity sensor applications based on surface acoustic wave(SAW). The ZnO film was used as a sensitive material layer. The ZnO and AlN(0002) were deposited by a sol-gel process and a pulse reactive magnetron sputtering, respectively. The ZnO sensitive films coated on AlN have a hexagonal wurtzite structure after the thin films annealed at $400^{\circ}C$, $500^{\circ}C$ and $600^{\circ}C$. The surface of the film exhibits sponginess and a nanometer particle size(below 50 nm). The largest shift in the frequency response was at approximately 200 kHz(the relative humidity: 10 %~90 %) for the structure annealed at $400^{\circ}C$. The effect of the change in the environmental temperature on the frequency response of the SAW humidity sensor was also investigated.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2009.07a
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• pp.1515_1516
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• 2009

A 440MHz wireless and passive surface acoustic wave (SAW) based micro-sensor was developed for simultaneous measurement of temperature and humidity. The developed sensor is composed of a SAW reflective delay lines structured by an IDT (Inter-Digital Transducer), four reflectors and humidity sensitive film (polyimide). Polyimide was dry-ecthed by RIE (Reactive Ion Etching) to obtain high roughness, which gives the large reaction area resulting in high sensitivity. In wireless testing using a network analyzer, sharp reflection peaks with high S/N ratio, small signal attenuation, and few spurious peaks were observed in the time domain. High sensitivity towards the temperature and humidiy were also observed in the large concentration range. The obtained sensitivity was $16.8^{\circ}/^{\circ}C$ for temperature sensor and $15.8^{\circ}$/%RH for humidity sensor.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2009.11a
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• pp.252-252
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• 2009

In this work, the nanocrystalline ZnO/polycrystalline (poly) aluminum nitride (AlN)/Si structure was fabricated for humidity sensor applications based on surface acoustic wave (SAW). In this structure, the ZnO film was used as sensing material layer. These ZnO and AlN(0002) were deposited by so-gel process and a pulse reactive magnetron sputtering, respectively. These experimental results showed that the obtained SAW velocity on AlN film was about 5128 m/s at $h/\lambda$=0.0125 (h and $\lambda$ is thickness and wavelength, respectively). For ZnO sensing layers coated on AlN, films have hexagonal wurtzite structure and nanometer particle size. The crystalline size of ZnO films annealed at 400, 500, and 600 $^{\circ}C$ is 10.2, 29.1, and 38 nm, respectively. Surface of the film exhibits spongy which can adsorb steam in the air. The best quality of the ZnO film was obtained with annealing temperature at 500 $^{\circ}Cis$. The change in frequency response (127.9~127.85 MHz) of the SAW humidity sensor based on ZnO/AlN structure was measured along the change in humidity (41~69%). The structural properties of thin films wereinvestigated by XRD and SEM.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.13-19
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• 2009

A 440MHz wireless and passive surface acoustic wave (SAW) based chemical sensor was developed on a $41^{\circ}YX\;LiNbO_3$ piezoelectric substrate for simultaneous measurement of $CO_2$ gas and relative humidity (RH) using a reflective delay line pattern as the sensor element. The reflective delay line is composed of an interdigital transducer (IDT) and several shorted grating reflectors. A Teflon AF 2400 and a hydrophilic $SiO_2$ layer were used as $CO_2$ and water vapor sensitive films. The coupling of mode (COM) modeling was conducted to determine optimal device parameters prior to fabrication. According to simulation results, the device was fabricated and then wirelessly measured using the network analyzer. The measured reflective coefficient $S_{11}$ in the time domain showed high signal/noise (S/N) ratio, small signal attenuation, and few spurious peaks. In the $CO_2$ and humidity testing, high sensitivity ($2^{\circ}/ppm$ for $CO_2$ detection and $7.45^{\circ}/%$RH for humidity sensing), good linearity and repeatability were observed in the $CO_2$ concentration ranges of $75{\sim}375ppm$ and humidity levels of $20{\sim}80%$RH. Temperature and humidity compensations were also investigated during the sensitivity evaluation process.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 1992.05a
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• pp.144-146
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• 1992

Surface acoustic wave(SAW) oscillator offers many attractive features for application to vapor sensors. The perturbation of SAW velocity by the hexafluoropropence plasma polymer thin film has been studied for relative humidity sensing. adsorption of moisture produces rapid aid changes in the properties of the film, resulting in a change in the velocity of surface acoustic waves and, hence, in the frequency of one SAW oscillator. The device used in our experiments have 55 MHZ SAW oscillator fabricated on a LiNbO substrate.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 1995.11a
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• pp.187-189
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• 1995

A Surface Acoustic Wave Gas sensor for NO, CO, H$_2$gas detection was designed fabricated, and tested. A delay line device was designed to composite a single mode SAW oscillator which enables to measure a SAW velocity. To reduce the effect of temperature and humidity, dual delay line oscillator circuit was used. And final output was measured by digital frequency counter. NO, CO, H$_2$gas were detected by WO$_3$thin film deposited on the path of the Delay Line.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.12 no.3 s.36
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• pp.267-274
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• 2005

This paper presents the fabrication of surface acoustic wave (SAW)-based pressure sensor for long-term stable mechanical compression force measurement. SAW pressure sensor has many attractive features for practical pressure measurement: no battery requirement, wireless pressure detection especially at hazardous environments, and easy other functionality integrations such as temperature, humidity, and RFID. A $41^{\circ}$ YX $LiNbO_3$ piezoelectric substrate was used because of its high SAW propagation velocity and large values of electromechanical coupling factors $K^2$. A silicon substrate with $\~200{\mu}m$ deep cavity was bonded to the diaphragm with epoxy, in which gold was covered all over the inner cavity in order to confine electromagnetic energy inside the sensor, and provide good isolation of the device from its environment. The reflection coefficient $S_{11}$ was measured using network analyzer. High S/N ratio, sharp reflected peaks, and clear separation between the peaks were observed. As a mechanical compression force was applied to the diaphragm from top with extremely sharp object, the diaphragm was bended, resulting in the phase shifts of the reflected peaks. The phase shifts were modulated depending on the amount of applied mechanical compression force. The measured $S_{11}$ results showed a good agreement with simulated results obtained from equivalent admittance circuit modeling.