Capacitive pressure microsensor fabricated by bulk micromachining and sacrificial layer etching

Author

Luque, A. ; Bolea, R.G. ; Fernandez-Bolanos, M. ; Ionescu, A. ; Quero, J.M.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electron. Eng., Seville Univ.

fYear

2006

fDate

6-10 Nov. 2006

Firstpage

2969

Lastpage

2974

Abstract

A new capacitive silicon pressure sensor fabricated by a combination of bulk and surface micromachining is presented. The sensor is composed of a polysilicon membrane that deflects due to the pressure difference applied over it. Its main advantages are a simple fabrication process and an efficient integrability with other devices. The behaviour of the sensor, obtained by mathematical modeling of the membrane deflection is presented, along with the numerical simulations that provide the characteristic curves. From these results, a study on how geometry affects sensor performance is deduced. Results obtained are in good agreement with previous similar devices

Keywords

capacitive sensors; etching; mathematical analysis; membranes; micromachining; microsensors; polymers; pressure sensors; silicon; bulk micromachining; capacitive pressure microsensor; capacitive silicon pressure sensor; fabrication process; membrane deflection; polysilicon membrane; sacrificial layer etching; surface micromachining; Biomembranes; Capacitive sensors; Etching; Fabrication; Mathematical model; Micromachining; Microsensors; Numerical simulation; Sensor phenomena and characterization; Silicon;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

IEEE Industrial Electronics, IECON 2006 - 32nd Annual Conference on

Conference_Location

Paris

ISSN

1553-572X

Print_ISBN

1-4244-0390-1

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/IECON.2006.348052

Filename

4153351