Detecting environmental conditions in a semiconductor chip

A capacitive sensor and a measurement circuit is described which can be able to measure tiny capacities and deviations therefrom reproducible. The capacity may vary depending on the local ambient conditions, such as mechanical tension (z. B. delay or shear stress), mechanical pressure, temperature and / or humidity, vary. It may be desirable that, in a semiconductor chip (101) integrated capacitor (102) is provided which is sufficiently small and sensitive, so that the projected from a semiconductor chip (101) traversed conditions be accurately measured.