Semiconductor device for measuring hydrogen and method for measuring a hydrogen concentration
AssigneeInfineon Technologies AG
InventorsHorst Theuss, Rainer Markus Schaller
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Abstract
The application relates to a semiconductor device (20) for measuring hydrogen including a sensor chip (10), which has a sensor including a sensor layer (14), which changes its mechanical stress upon contact with hydrogen, wherein the sensor is configured to detect the change in the mechanical stress of the sensor layer (14) by way of a membrane (15), wherein for detection purposes provision is made for exciting the membrane (15) using a periodic signal. The application furthermore relates to a method for measuring a hydrogen concentration.
Claims17
A semiconductor device for measuring a hydrogen comprising:
- a sensor chip, the sensor chip comprising:
- a sensor comprising:
- a sensor layer,
- wherein a mechanical stress of the sensor layer changes upon contact with the hydrogen;
- and
- a membrane,
- wherein the sensor is configured to detect a change in the mechanical stress of the sensor layer by way of the membrane, wherein for detection purposes provision is made for exciting the membrane using a periodic signal.
A method for measuring a hydrogen concentration in a medium using a semiconductor device, the semiconductor device comprising a sensor chip comprising a sensor, the sensor comprising a sensor layer and a membrane, a mechanical stress of the sensor layer changing upon contact with a hydrogen, the method comprising:
- contacting the sensor layer with the medium,
- detecting the change in the mechanical stress of the sensor layer using the sensor.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.