Stmicroelectronics S.r.l.

Alessandro Auditore

Antonello Santangelo

Salvatore Cascino

Viviana Cerantonio

Roberto Modica

Maurizio Moschetti

Sebastiano Ravesi

Crocifisso Marco Antonio Renna

Alessio Romano

A sensor of volatile substances includes: a first electrode structure and a second electrode structure capacitively coupled, comb-fingered, and arranged coplanar in a plane; and a sensitive layer, of a sensitive material that is permeable to a volatile substance and has electrical permittivity depending upon a concentration of the volatile substance absorbed by the sensitive material. The sensitive layer extends from opposite sides of the plane.

Sensor of volatile substances and process for manufacturing a sensor of volatile substances

A method manufactures a gas sensor integrated on a semiconductor substrate. The method includes: realizing a first plurality of openings in the semiconductor substrate; realizing a crystalline silicon membrane suspended on the semiconductor substrate, forming an insulating cavity buried in the substrate; realizing a second plurality of openings in the semiconductor substrate, so as to totally suspend on the semiconductor substrate the crystalline silicon membrane; realizing, through a thermal oxidation process of the totally suspended crystalline silicon membrane, a suspended dielectric membrane; realizing, through selective photolithography, a heating element; realizing, through selective photolithography, electrodes and a pair of electric contacts; and selectively realizing, above the electrodes, a sensitive element by compacting layers of metallic oxide through a sintering process generated in the gas sensor by connecting the electrodes to a voltage generator.

Manufacturing method of a gas sensor integrated on a semiconductor substrate

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Giarre, Italy

Alessandro Auditore