Document Type

Article

Language

eng

Publication Date

8-1-2016

Publisher

Elsevier

Source Publication

Sensors and Actuators A: Physical

Source ISSN

0924-4247

Abstract

A typical microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) pressure sensor consists of a thin, deformable membrane and sensing element such as a piezoresistive element which is used to measure the amount of deflection in response to an applied pressure. Previous efforts demonstrated that buckled membranes, from silicon on insulator (SOI) wafers, can be thermally tuned via joule heating. By applying heat to the membrane through a resistive heating element, compressive stress is induced in the membrane causing it to buckle further out of plane and increasing its overall stiffness response. It is demonstrated that by increasing the stiffness of the membrane, the response to an increase in pressure can be varied and its overall sensitivity to pressure can be reduced by up to 62%.

Comments

Accepted version. Sensors and Actuators A: Physical, Vol. 246 (August 1, 2016): 156-162. DOI. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license

Ronald A. Coutu Jr. was affiliated with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Air Force Institute of Technology 2950 Hobson Way, Wright Patterson Air Force Base, OH at the time of publication.

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