Title :
Thermal-based MEMS vacuum gauges for measuring pressures from 10−2 Torr to 10−6 Torr
Author :
Zaker, E. ; Farid, S. ; Selvaraj, S.K. ; Bhavanarayana, C. ; Sorto, D. ; Kaur, R. ; Svean, B. ; Slusser, S. ; Habibimehr, P. ; Cheng, J-Y ; Sliwa, K. ; Habeebuddin, F. ; Kirkpatrick, M. ; Dankovic, T. ; Punchihewa, K.A.G. ; Feinerman, A. ; Busta, H.
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Univ. of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
Abstract :
Bulk micromachined Pirani gauges were designed and fabricated using an H-shaped 1 μm thick silicon nitride support structure and 30 nm of Ni for the meander resistors and connecting metal lines. The distance d between the resistor element and the cold junction was chosen to be 1200 μm. From theoretical and experimental considerations, it is shown that pressures below 10-4 Torr can be measured if the thermal resistances of the two metal lines which connect the resistor element to the cold junction and the thermal support structures are about or larger than 1×106 K/W. Also, the distance d between the resistor element and the cold junction needs to be near or larger than 1000 μm.
Keywords :
micromachining; microsensors; pressure measurement; resistors; silicon compounds; thermal resistance; vacuum gauges; H-shaped silicon nitride; SiN; bulk micromachined Pirani gauges; cold junction; connecting metal lines; distance 1200 mum; meander resistors; pressure measurement; size 1 mum; size 30 nm; thermal resistances; thermal support structures; thermal-based MEMS vacuum gauges; Electrical resistance measurement; Junctions; Metals; Resistors; Silicon; Thermal resistance; MEMS-based vacuum gauges; micromachined Pirani gauges; thermal-based vacuum gauges;
Conference_Titel :
Vacuum Nanoelectronics Conference (IVNC), 2012 25th International
Conference_Location :
Jeju
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4673-1983-6
Electronic_ISBN :
pending
DOI :
10.1109/IVNC.2012.6316933
