Novel TPMS sensing chip with pressure sensor embedded in accelerometer

This study reports the design architecture to embed piezoresistive pressure sensor into accelerometer (PinG sensor) on a single chip by using the cavity-SOI process. The monolithic sensing chip can find various applications such as tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS), etc. The merits of the presented design includes significant chip size reduction by integrating the diaphragm of pressure sensor into the proof-mass of accelerometer, as well as better manufacturability through combining piezoresistor (PZR) process and CSOI process. Preliminary tests demonstrated the feasibility of detecting both pressure and acceleration using the presented PinG sensor. This design architecture is also applicable for other sensors integration.