Humidity-sensitive electrical properties of MgAl204 thin films

The growing demand for humidity control in domestic environments and for industrial purposes is the main cause of the increasing need for electrical humidity sensors [l, 21. The development of humidity sensing elements in thin-film form is dictated by on-chip in- tegration technology, which is the emerging technology in the area of sensor fabrication [3]. In a previous paper, the authors have proposed the use of MgAl,O, thin films as humidity sensors, with promising results [4]. This paper discusses the comparison between ax. and d.c. measurements of the humidity-sensitive elec- trical properties of MgA&O, thin Glms in order to obtain more detailed informations on their conduction mechanism.