The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jan. 05, 1999
Filed:
Apr. 29, 1997
Yingjeng James Li, Pingtung, TW;
Ping Ping Tsai, Hsinchu, TW;
Industrial Technology Research Institute, Hsinchu, TW;
Abstract
A method for forming a solid state humidity sensor is disclosed which comprises the steps of: (a) dissolving a tungstate salt into an aqueous solution; (b) adjusting the pH of the aqueous tungstate salt solution to below 8.5; (c) forming one or a pair of electrodes on an insulating substrate; (d) placing the substrate into the pH-adjusted aqueous tungstate salt solution and heating the aqueous solution containing the substrate at temperatures above 70.degree. C. to thereby form a pyrochlore-type crystalline tungsten trioxide film over the electrode or pair of electrodes; and (e) forming another electrode over the pyrochlore-type crystalline tungsten trioxide film if only one electrode is formed during step (c). Alternatively, the pyrochlore-type crystalline tungsten trioxide film can be formed over or between the electrodes by heating the pH-adjusted aqueous tungstate salt solution to cause a precipitation of pyrochlore-type crystalline tungsten trioxide, then screen-printing the pyrochlore-type crystalline tungsten trioxide powder on one or both of the electrodes to thereby form a humidity sensing element. The pyrochlore-type crystalline tungsten trioxide is represented by the general formula of (M.sub.2 O).sub.x WO.sub.3.zH.sub.2 O, in which M is a cation, x is about 0.5, and z, which is the amount of crystalline water contained in the crystal, is typically less than 2.