The novel structural design for pressure sensors

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the disadvantages of traditional sensors and establish a new structure for pressure measurement. Design/methodology/approach - A kind of novel piezoresistive micro-pressure sensor with a cross-beam membrane (CBM) structure is designed based on the silicon substrate. Through analyzing the stress distribution of the new structure by finite element method, the model of structure is established and compared with traditional structures. The fabrication is operated on silicon wafer, which applies the technology of anisotropy chemical etching and inductively coupled plasma. Findings - Compared to the traditional C- and E-type structures, this new CBM structure has the advantages of low nonlinearity and high sensitivities by the cross-beam on the membrane, which cause the stress is more concentrated in sensitive area and the deflections that relate to the linearity are decreased. Originality/value - The paper provides the first empirical reports on the new piezoresistive structure for the pressure measurement by fabricating a cross-beam on the membrane and resolving the conflict of nonlinearity and sensitivity of the piezoresistive sensors.