Silicon Micromachined Pressure Sensors

Abstract

Silicon micromachining for realizing micro mechanical structures has received considerable interest due to the several advantages of this technology over the conventional machining techniques. Silicon pressure sensors were the first micro mechanical transducers developed. Since then the market for micromachined pressure sensors has grown in leaps and bounds and found application in all walks of life including defense and space applications. The relevant micromachining technology and the design considerations are reviewed in this paper. The paper also gives the latest developments in this area and gives the details of the polysilicon piezoresistor based pressure sensors with Silicon On Insulator (SOI) approach for integrating pressure sensor and associated electronics.