high-performance piezoresistive mems strain sensor with low thermal sensitivity高性能压敏电阻mems压力传感器热灵敏度较低.pdfVIP

Sensors 2011, 11, 1819-1846; doi:10.3390/s110201819 OPEN ACCESS sensors ISSN 1424-8220 /journal/sensors Article High-Performance Piezoresistive MEMS Strain Sensor with Low Thermal Sensitivity Ahmed A. S. Mohammed 1,*, Walied A. Moussa 1 and Edmond Lou 2 1 Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2G8, Canada; E-Mail: walied.moussa@ualberta.ca 2 Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2V4, Canada; E-Mail: elou@ualberta.ca * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: shehata@ualberta.ca; Tel.: + 1-780-868-5824; Fax: + 1-780-492-2200. Received: 9 December 2010; in revised form: 18 January 2011 / Accepted: 20 January 2011 / Published: 31 January 2011 Abstract: This paper presents the experimental evaluation of a new piezoresistive MEMS strain sensor. Geometric characteristics of the sensor silicon carrier have been employed to improve the sensor sensitivity. Surface features or trenches have been introduced in the vicinity of the sensing elements. These features create stress concentration regions (SCRs) and as a result, the strain/stress field was altered. The improved sensing sensitivity compensated for the signal loss. The feasibility of this methodology was proved in a previous work using Finite Element Analysis (FEA). This paper provides the experimental part of the previous study. The experiments covered a temperature range from −50 °C to +50 °C. The M