Title :
Micro force sensor with piezoresistive amorphous carbon strain gauge
Author :
Peiner, E. ; Tibrewala, A. ; Bandorf, R. ; Biehl, S. ; Luthje, H. ; Doering, L.
Author_Institution :
Inst. for Semicond. Technol., Tech. Univ. Braunschweig, Germany
Abstract :
In this contribution, we report for the first time on a piezoresistive amorphous carbon (a-C) strain gauge successfully integrated into a silicon micro cantilever force sensor. Amorphous carbon was sputter deposited on a silicon membrane and structured by the lift-off technique using photo resist. Cantilevers comprising a-C strain gauges were etched out of this membrane using TMAH and KOH in a bulk silicon micromachining process. Realized prototypes were tested by applying a variable load to the cantilever free end. We found linear characteristics of the strain gauge resistance vs. the applied force in the range of 0 to ±600 μN revealing a piezoresistive gauge factor of a-C of nearly 70.
Keywords :
carbon; force measurement; force sensors; membranes; micromachining; microsensors; piezoresistive devices; strain gauges; C; KOH; TMAH; bulk micromachining; microcantilever force sensor; photoresist lift-off technique; piezoresistive gauge factor; piezoresistive strain gauge; silicon membrane; sputtered amorphous carbon; strain gauge resistance linear characteristics; Amorphous materials; Biomembranes; Capacitive sensors; Force sensors; Micromachining; Piezoresistance; Prototypes; Resists; Silicon; Sputter etching;
Conference_Titel :
Solid-State Sensors, Actuators and Microsystems, 2005. Digest of Technical Papers. TRANSDUCERS '05. The 13th International Conference on
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-8994-8
DOI :
10.1109/SENSOR.2005.1496476
