New CMOS-compatible mechanical shear stress sensor

Author

Sutor, Alexander ; Lerch, Reinhard ; Hohe, Hans-Peter ; Gavesi, Marco

Author_Institution

Dept. of Sensor Technol., Erlangen-Nurnberg Univ., Erlangen, Germany

Volume

1

Issue

4

fYear

2001

fDate

12/1/2001 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

345

Lastpage

351

Abstract

A new approach to the measurement of mechanical stresses is presented. The new sensor design utilizes the fact that shear stresses in the silicon lattice generate an electric field perpendicular to an electric current. The sensor effect is characterized by a new piezo-bridge-coefficient, which relates the sensitivity of the sensor structure to its crystallographic orientation. The sensor is based on a CMOS-compatible structure. It offers the possibility to realize highly sensitive single-element stress sensors for use in MEMS or in smart force measurement strips, as well. An example of a signal conditioning circuit is shown. Special designs with improved sensitivity and low noise are presented. The response to parasitic magnetic fields is measured and strongly reduced. Furthermore, the temperature behavior was analyzed and finally optimized

Keywords

bridge instruments; elemental semiconductors; intelligent sensors; microsensors; piezoresistive devices; silicon; stress measurement; CMOS-compatible structure; MEMS device; Si; crystallographic orientation; electric current; electric field; mechanical shear stress sensor; noise; parasitic magnetic field; piezo-bridge-coefficient; sensitivity; signal conditioning circuit; silicon lattice; smart force measurement; temperature characteristics; Crystallography; Current; Intelligent sensors; Lattices; Magnetic field measurement; Mechanical sensors; Mechanical variables measurement; Sensor phenomena and characterization; Silicon; Stress measurement;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Sensors Journal, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1530-437X

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/7361.983475

Filename

983475