Patent ID: 7222531

Claim:
A capacitance humidity sensor for detecting a humidity change using a capacitance change, comprising: a semiconductor substrate; a protective layer disposed on the semiconductor substrate; a first sensor element, a capacitance of the first sensor element changing with respect to a humidity change at a first changing rate, the first sensor element including a capacitive element having a pair of comb electrodes disposed on one surface of the semiconductor substrate facing each other with a predetermined gap therebetween; a second sensor element being connected in series with the first sensor element, a capacitance of the second sensor element changing with respect to the humidity change at a second changing rate that is different from the first changing rate, the second sensor element including a capacitive element having comb electrodes disposed on the one surface of the semiconductor substrate facing each other with a predetermined gap therebetween; and a humidity sensitive layer having a dielectric constant which changes in accordance with the humidity change, the humidity sensitive layer being disposed on the semiconductor substrate through the protective layer to cover the first sensor element and the second sensor element, wherein a distance between adjacent comb-teeth portions of the comb electrodes of the first sensor element is different from a distance between adjacent comb-teeth portions of the comb electrodes of the second sensor element.