| AVS 55th International Symposium & Exhibition | |
| Advanced Surface Engineering | Thursday Sessions |
| Session SE+TF+NC-ThA |
| Session: | Glancing Angle Deposition (GLAD) II |
| Presenter: | M.T. Taschuk, University of Alberta, Canada |
| Authors: | M.T. Taschuk, University of Alberta, Canada J.J. Steele, University of Alberta, Canada M.J. Brett, University of Alberta, Canada |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
Applications requiring relative humidity (RH) measurement will require differing sensitivity, range of humidity operation, and response times. These properties are determined by the properties of the sensing medium: material, porosity, surface area, pore size distribution and morphology. We have been investigating the use of glancing angle deposition (GLAD) for the fabrication of RH sensors with interdigitated electrode (IDE) substrates.1,2 While GLAD offers some significant advantages for RH sensors, there remain a number of open questions regarding the underlying physics of GLAD RH sensor performance and response time. The response of our devices depend on the extremely large low frequency dielectric constant of water adsorbed to metal oxides, which can results in a three order of magnitude change in capacitance as RH is increased from 0 to 100%. We have recently employed an electromagnetic model with simple dielectric mixing laws to compare our device performance with literature values for dielectric constants2. Further work is ongoing to include structural effects in the dielectric mixing laws to improve accuracy. Response time varies with the size and nature of pores in our sensors, which in turn relies on column properties such as diameter and surface roughness. Experimental values for response time of the GLAD RH sensors have been reported, but a neither a model nor thorough study of response time as a function of deposition angle and film thickness has been presented. Constructing a model for our devices requires an understanding of the diffusivity of GLAD films, the interaction between water vapour and TiO2, and the electromagnetic behaviour of IDE devices. In this paper we characterize the performance and response time of GLAD RH sensors as a function of film thickness and deposition angle. The microstructure column radius as a function of film thickness and deposition angle is investigated. A 1D numerical model describing response time of our devices is developed, which includes diffusion, adsorption and IDE physics. The modeling results are compared with our experimental data, and demonstrates that response time of our sensors is dominated by adsorption.
1 J.J. Steele, G.A. Fitzpatrick, and M.J. Brett. IEEE Sensors Journal, Vol. 7:955 – 956, 2007.
2 J.J. Steele, M.T. Taschuk, and M.J. Brett. IEEE Sensors Journal, (In Press), 2008.