Analysis and Validation of Sensing Sensitivity of a Piezoresistive Pressure Sensor

In this study, a packaged silicon based piezoresistive pressure sensor is designed, fabricated, and studied. A finite element method (FEM) is adopted for designing and optimizing the sensor performance. Thermal as well as pressure loading on the sensor is applied to make a comparison between experimental and simulation results. Furthermore, a method that transfers the simulation stress data into output voltage is proposed in this study, and the results indicate that the experimental result coincides with the simulation data. In order to achieve better sensor performance, a parametric analysis is performed to evaluate the system output sensitivity of the pressure sensor. The design parameters of the pressure sensor include membrane size/shape and the location of piezoresistor. The findings depict that proper selection of the membrane geometry and piezoresistor location can enhance the sensor sensitivity.