Title :
MEMS-Capacitive Pressure Sensor Fabricated Using Printed-Circuit-Processing Techniques
Author :
Palasagaram, Jithendra N. ; Ramadoss, Ramesh
Author_Institution :
Gen. Electr. Co. Health Care, Aurora, OH
Abstract :
Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS)-based capacitive pressure sensors are typically fabricated using silicon-micromachining techniques. In this paper, a novel liquid-crystal polymer (LCP)-based MEMS-capacitive pressure sensor, fabricated using printed-circuit-processing technique, is reported. The pressure sensor consists of a cylindrical cavity formed by a sandwich of an LCP substrate, an LCP spacer layer with circular holes, and an LCP top layer. The bottom electrode and the top electrode of the capacitive pressure sensor are defined on the top side of the LCP substrate and the bottom side of the top-LCP layer, respectively. An example pressure sensor with a diaphragm radius of 1.6 mm provides a total capacitance change of 0.277 pF for an applied pressure in the range of 0-100 kPa
Keywords :
capacitive sensors; electrodes; liquid crystal devices; liquid crystal polymers; microsensors; pressure sensors; printed circuit design; 0 to 100 kPa; LCP spacer layer; LCP substrate; MEMS capacitive pressure sensor; liquid-crystal polymer; microelectromechanical systems; printed circuit processing techniques; Capacitance; Capacitive sensors; Copper; Electrodes; Fabrication; Liquid crystal polymers; Metallization; Micromechanical devices; Sensor arrays; Sensor systems; Capacitive sensors; liquid-crystal polymer (LCP); microelectromechanical systems (MEMS); pressure sensors; printed-circuit board (PCB) MEMS;
Journal_Title :
Sensors Journal, IEEE
DOI :
10.1109/JSEN.2006.884430
