Design Considerations for Silicon Circular Diaphragm Pressure Sensors

Abstract

The design of silicon circular-diaphragm pressure sensors was considered in order to develop highly-accurate pressure sensors. A relatively simple method of stress analysis was proposed. The anisotropy of the elastic properties of silicon, the large deflections of the plates, and elastic deformations of the support structures were taken into account in the stress analysis by the plate theory and the finite element method. Output voltages and their nonlinearities were calculated by applying stress analysis and piezoresistive sensor theories. The calculated results are in close agreement with the experimental results.