A balanced dual-diaphragm resonant pressure sensor in silicon

Author

Stemme, Erik ; Stemme, Göran

Author_Institution

Chalmers Univ. of Technol., Gothenburg, Sweden

Volume

37

Issue

3

fYear

1990

fDate

3/1/1990 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

648

Lastpage

653

Abstract

The design and fabrication of a resonant differential pressure sensor is described. The vibrating part consists of a dual-diaphragm structure suspended inside a frame. Anisotropic silicon etching and thermal silicon bonding techniques are used to fabricate the device. The sensor is electrostatically excited to vibration in a torsional balanced mode which yields a high Q factor of 2400 in air. The pressure sensitivity is based on a torsional stiffness change of the vibrating element. Measurements show a pressure sensitivity of 19%/bar over the range -0.5 to +0.5 bar and a very low temperature sensitivity of the resonance frequency of -16 p.p.m./°C

Keywords

electric sensing devices; elemental semiconductors; pressure transducers; silicon; -0.5 to 0.5 bar; Q factor; Si; anisotropic Si etching; balanced dual-diaphragm resonant pressure sensor; electrostatic excitation; pressure sensitivity; resonance frequency; semiconductor; temperature sensitivity; thermal Si bonding technique; torsional balanced mode; torsional stiffness; vibration; Anisotropic magnetoresistance; Bonding; Electrostatic measurements; Etching; Fabrication; Frequency measurement; Pressure measurement; Resonance; Sensor phenomena and characterization; Silicon;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Electron Devices, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9383

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/16.47769

Filename

47769