Title :
Low-Cost Surface Micromachined Pirani Pressure Sensor with Atmospheric Pressure Range
Author :
Khosraviani, K. ; Ma, Y. ; Leung, A.M.
Author_Institution :
Simon Fraser Univ., Burnaby
Abstract :
An innovative Pirani pressure sensor with atmospheric pressure operating range has been fabricated. The sensor´s heated element is a polysilicon resistor, which is separated from the substrate (the heatsink) by an equivalent nanometer size gap. By taking advantage of the surface roughness of the polysilicon heater and a simple process, an inexpensive nanometer size gap is formed between the heater and the heatsink, which significantly increases the upper sensing limit of the sensor. Our sensor showed good sensitivity to pressure up to 700 kPa, and has been fabricated with a simple 3-mask, Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) compatible process.
Keywords :
atmospheric pressure; micromachining; pressure sensors; CMOS compatible process; atmospheric pressure range; heated element; nanometer size gap; polysilicon heater; polysilicon resistor; surface micromachined Pirani pressure sensor; Biomembranes; Fabrication; Heat sinks; Pressure measurement; Rough surfaces; Solids; Surface roughness; Temperature sensors; Thermal sensors; Wire;
Conference_Titel :
Electrical and Computer Engineering, 2007. CCECE 2007. Canadian Conference on
Conference_Location :
Vancouver, BC
Print_ISBN :
1-4244-1020-7
Electronic_ISBN :
0840-7789
DOI :
10.1109/CCECE.2007.45
