Sensitivity enhancement by striped arrow embossed diaphragms in low pressure MEMS piezoresistive pressure sensors

Abstract

Design of low pressure MEMS sensors with high sensitivity and excellent linearity is a challenge. Researchers have proposed different techniques to achieve this. The authors propose broken arrow embossed diaphragms for the design of low range pressure sensors based on piezoresistive effect. Studies on these sensor structures show that these diaphragms are able to generate larger stresses than flat diaphragm thus enhancing the sensitivity considerably. They also perform better than the structures studied by other researchers in the past. This study also demonstrates that the proposed structure is also capable of maintaining high degree of linearity.