Optimized design of piezoresistive pressure sensor for improved linearity and sensitivity

This paper presents the optimized design of membrane dimension and piezoresistors position to obtain a high performance of piezoresistive pressure sensor. The designs have been simulated by finite element analysis (FEA). For achieving high sensitivity and good linearity of pressure sensor with a measurement span of 4 MPa, we find that 25 μm thick and diameter of 600 μm for the membrane is required. The four resistors are aligned along a <;110> direction on a (001) plane membrane and located close to the rim where the pressure induced stress linearly depends on the pressure and is nearly close to the maximum stress along the membrane.