Piezoresistive Wheatstone Bridge Research Articles

Integrated Piezoresistive Normal Force Sensors Fabricated Using Transfer Processes with Stiction Effect Temporary Handling.

Tactile sensation is a highly desired function in robotics. Furthermore, tactile sensor arrays are crucial sensing elements in pulse diagnosis instruments. This paper presents the fabrication of an integrated piezoresistive normal force sensor through surface micromachining. The force sensor is transferred to a readout circuit chip via a temporary stiction effect handling process. The readout circuit chip comprises two complementary metal-oxide semiconductor operational amplifiers, which are redistributed to form an instrumentation amplifier. The sensor is released and temporarily bonded to the substrate before the transfer process due to the stiction effect to avoid the damage and movement of the diaphragm during subsequent flip-chip bonding. The released sensor is pulled off from the substrate and transferred to the readout circuit chip after being bonded to the readout circuit chip. The size of the transferred normal force sensor is 180 μm × 180 μm × 1.2 μm. The maximum misalignment of the flip-chip bonding process is approximately 1.5 μm, and sensitivity is 93.5 μV/μN/V. The routing of the piezoresistive Wheatstone bridge can be modified to develop shear force sensors; consequently, this technique can be used to develop tactile sensors that can sense both normal and shear forces.

High sensitive, linear and thermostable pressure sensor utilizing bipolar junction transistor for 5 kPa

Research of pressure sensor chip utilizing novel electrical circuit with bipolar-junction transistor-based (BJT) piezosensitive differential amplifier with negative feedback loop (PDA-NFL) for 5 kPa differential range was done. The significant advantages of developed chip PDA-NFL in the comparative analysis of advanced pressure sensor analogs, which are using the Wheatstone piezoresistive bridge, are clearly shown. The experimental results prove that pressure sensor chip PDA-NFL with 4.0 × 4.0 mm2 chip area has sensitivity S = 11.2 ± 1.8 mV/V/kPa with nonlinearity of 2KNLback = 0.11 ± 0.09%/FS (pressure is applied from the back side of pressure sensor chip) and 2KNLtop = 0.18 ± 0.09%/FS (pressure is applied from the top side of pressure sensor chip). All temperature characteristics have low errors, because the precision elements balance of PDA-NFL electric circuit was used. Additionally, the burst pressure is 80 times higher than the working range.

High-Performance Single-Side Fabricated (111)-Silicon Dual-Cantilever Accelerometer with Squeeze-Film Air Damping Modulation

This study proposes a novel design and micromachining process for a dual-cantilever accelerometer. Comb and curved-surface structures are integrated into the sensing structure to modulate the squeeze-film damping, thus effectively optimizing the response frequency bandwidth. Owing to the high stress concentration on the dual-cantilever integrated with a fully sensitive piezoresistive Wheatstone bridge, a high sensitivity to acceleration is achieved. In addition, the dual-cantilever accelerometer is fabricated using a specifically developed low-cost and high-yield (111)-silicon single-side bulk-micromachining process. The test results show that the proposed dual-cantilever accelerometer exhibits a sensitivity of 0.086–0.088 mV/g/3.3 V and a nonlinearity of ±(0.09%–0.23%) FS (full-scale). Based on dynamic characterization, an adequate frequency bandwidth of 2.64 kHz is verified. Furthermore, a resonant frequency of 4.388 kHz is measured, and a low quality factor (Q) of 7.62 is obtained, which agrees well with the design for air-damping modulation. The achieved high performance renders the proposed dual-cantilever accelerometer promising in applications such as automotive and consumer electronics.

A low cross-axis sensitivity piezoresistive accelerometer fabricated by masked-maskless wet etching

The paper focuses on the design, simulation, fabrication and experiment of a low cross-axis sensitivity piezoresistive accelerometer fabricated by masked-maskless wet etching in iodine-supersaturated KOH solution. The piezoresistive accelerometer consists of a proof mass, eight supporting beams and four sensing beams. The sensing beams are located at the top surface of silicon chips in order to pattern piezoresistive resistors and metal lines. A boron-diffused piezoresistive Wheatstone bridge is located at the frame-side end of a sensing beam to detect the strain. The gravity center of the proof mass lies within the neutral plane of supporting beams to minimize the rotation of the proof mass under in-plane acceleration. Compared with accelerometer of which the supporting beams located at the surface of chips, the rotating angle of the newly designed sensor under in-plane acceleration is reduced by 98.91%. Preliminary experimental results show that the cross-axis sensitivity under X and Y acceleration is 1.67% and 0.82%, respectively.

Analysis of asymmetric resonance response of thermally excited silicon micro-cantilevers for mass-sensitive nanoparticle detection

In this paper, the asymmetric resonance frequency (f0) responses of thermally in-plane excited silicon cantilevers for a pocket-sized, cantilever-based airborne nanoparticle detector (Cantor) are analysed. By measuring the shift of f0 caused by the deposition of nanoparticles (NPs), the cantilevers are used as a microbalance. The cantilever sensors are low cost manufactured from silicon by bulk-micromachining techniques and contain an integrated p-type heating actuator and a sensing piezoresistive Wheatstone bridge. f0 is tracked by a homemade phase-locked loop (PPL) for real-time measurements. To optimize the sensor performance, a new cantilever geometry was designed, fabricated and characterized by its frequency responses. The most significant characterisation parameters of our application are f0 and the quality factor (Q), which have high influences on sensitivity and efficiency of the NP detector. Regarding the asymmetric resonance signal, a novel fitting function based on the Fano resonance replacing the conventionally used function of the simple harmonic oscillator and a method to calculate Q by its fitting parameters were developed for a quantitative evaluation. To obtain a better understanding of the resonance behaviours, we analysed the origin of the asymmetric line shapes. Therefore, we compared the frequency response of the on-chip thermal excitation with an external excitation using an in-plane piezo actuator. In correspondence to the Fano effect, we could reconstruct the measured resonance curves by coupling two signals with constant amplitude and the expected signal of the cantilever, respectively. Moreover, the phase of the measurement signal can be analysed by this method, which is important to understand the locking process of the PLL circuit. Besides the frequency analysis, experimental results and calibration measurements with different particle types are presented. Using the described analysis method, decent results to optimize a next generation of Cantor are expected.

Asymmetric resonance frequency analysis of in-plane electrothermal silicon cantilevers for nanoparticle sensors

The asymmetric resonance frequency analysis of silicon cantilevers for a low-cost wearable airborne nanoparticle detector (Cantor) is described in this paper. The cantilevers, which are operated in the fundamental in-plane resonance mode, are used as a mass-sensitive microbalance. They are manufactured out of bulk silicon, containing a full piezoresistive Wheatstone bridge and an integrated thermal heater for reading the measurement output signal and stimulating the in-plane excitation, respectively. To optimize the sensor performance, cantilevers with different cantilever geometries are designed, fabricated and characterized. Besides the resonance frequency, the quality factor (Q) of the resonance curve has a high influence concerning the sensor sensitivity. Because of an asymmetric resonance behaviour, a novel fitting function and method to extract the Q is created, different from that of the simple harmonic oscillator (SHO). For testing the sensor in a long-term frequency analysis, a phase- locked loop (PLL) circuit is employed, yielding a frequency stability of up to 0.753 Hz at an Allan variance of 3.77 × 10-6. This proposed asymmetric resonance frequency analysis method is expected to be further used in the process development of the next-generation Cantor.

Optimisation of industrial production of low-force sensors - adhesive bonding of force-centring ball

This work addresses the issue of attaching the force-centring part (a round ball) to the load cell of a force sensor, a piezoresistive thick-film Wheatstone bridge deposited onto a ceramic cantilever. As the current soldering process requires expensive metallisation steps for both the ball and the cantilever, and subjects the solder pads used for mounting the cantilever to an additional reflow cycle, an alternative adhesive bonding process was developed, allowing both simpler production and the use of other ball materials such as ceramic and glass. The selfcentring action of solder capillary forces was ensured by structuring the adhesive so as to form a mechanical cuvette allowing centring of the ball by gravity. The selected adhesive materials exhibited good printability and bonding, as well as surviving the subsequent soldering and cleaning process steps.

Microtactile Cantilever Resonators for Characterizing Surface Deposits

Silicon cantilever resonators fabricated in a slender geometry are investigated for detecting characteristics of local elasticity of different surface deposits by monitoring changes of resonance frequency and quality factor (Q-factor) corresponding to the physical properties of the materials. A full piezoresistive Wheatstone bridge (WB) for signal read-out and a wet-etched silicon tip for surface probing are integrated on the cantilever beam. From the material characterization, the harder the object surface, the larger the resonance frequency shift is while amplitude and Q-factor decrease. This sensor will be the key component of an adaptable form and roughness monitoring system for inline process control of machine tools for high-aspect-ratio microstructures.

A phase-locked loop frequency tracking system for portable microelectromechanical piezoresistive cantilever mass sensors

A closed-loop circuit is developed in this work for tracking the resonant frequency of silicon microcantilever mass sensors. The proposed closed-loop system is mainly based on a phase-locked loop (PLL) circuit. To lock onto the resonant frequency of the resonator, an actuation signal generated from a voltage-controlled oscillator is fed back to the input reference signal of the cantilever sensor. In addition to the PLL circuit, an instrumentation amplifier and an active low-pass filter are connected to the system for gaining the cantilever output signal and transforming a rectangular PLL output signal into a sinusoidal signal used for sensor actuation, respectively. To demonstrate the functionality of the system, a self-sensing silicon cantilever resonator with a built-in piezoresistive Wheatstone bridge is fabricated and integrated with the circuit. A piezoactuator is employed to actuate the cantilever into resonance. From the measurement results, the integrated closed-loop system is successfully employed to characterize a 9.4 kHz cantilever sensor under ambient temperature cross-sensitivity yielding a sensor temperature coefficient of −32.8 ppm/°C. In addition to it, the sensor was also exposed to exhaled human breath condensates and e-cigarette aerosols to test the sensor sensitivity obtained from mass-loading effects. With a high frequency stability (i.e., a frequency deviation as low as 0.02 Hz), this developed system is intended to support the miniaturization of the instrumentation modules for cantilever-based nanoparticle detectors (CANTORs).

Piezoresistive bridge microcantilevers biosensor based on SOI wafer for glucose detecting

To measure glucose accurately, a high sensitivity piezoresistive four-set Wheatstone bridge structure microcantilevers glucose biosensor was developed. The microcantilevers with a piezoresistor were fabricated using a series of bulk silicon processes based on a silicon-on-insulator wafer. An improved Wheatstone bridge readout circuit with voltage closed-loop auto-zero and high-gain magnified functions is proposed. The sensing microcantilever gold-coated surface was functionalised by immobilising a self-assembled monolayer of 4-mercaptophenylboronic acid, the reference cantilever was not functionalised. The relationship between a piezoresistive bridgeout caused by the microcantilevers bending and glucose solution concentration was obtained at 5 and 15 mM. Experimental results demonstrated that the output voltage induced by microcantilevers bending is proportional to the glucose concentrations and the sensitivity is up to 0.1 V/mM.

A Room Temperature Polymer-Coated Piezoresistive Silicon Bridge Gasoline Vapor Sensor

This paper presents a novel gasoline vapor sensor, which is composed of a silicon bridge embedded with piezoresistive wheatstone bridge and a silicon rubber membrane as sensitive layer coated on silicon bridge. When the silicon rubber membrane absorbs gasoline vapor molecules from ambient air, the swelling of the silicon rubber membrane leads to bending of the silicon bridge diaphragm. The bending stresses could be transformed into an output voltage by a piezoresistive wheatstone bridge. It is found that silicon rubber membrane-coated silicon bridge vapor sensor exhibits a good sensitivity for gasoline vapor. Experimental results show that the sensitivity and resolution are 0.4 uV/ppm and 10 ppm, respectively. The detection limit is 50 ppm. The proposed gasoline vapor sensor has simply principle, mature technology, low cost, and can be integrated with signal processing circuit using the MEMS processes.

A novel method of temperature compensation for piezoresistive microcantilever-based sensors

Microcantilever with integrated piezoresistor has been applied to in situ surface stress measurement in the field of biochemical sensors. It is well known that piezoresistive cantilever-based sensors are sensitive to ambient temperature changing due to highly temperature-dependent piezoresistive effect and mismatch in thermal expansion of composite materials. This paper proposes a novel method of temperature drift compensation for microcantilever-based sensors with a piezoresistive full Wheatstone bridge integrated at the clamped ends by subtracting the amplified output voltage of the reference cantilever from the output voltage of the sensing cantilever through a simple temperature compensating circuit. Experiments show that the temperature drift of microcantilever sensors can be significantly reduced by the method.

MEMS magnetometer based on magnetorheological elastomer

To develop a simple and low-cost MEMS magnetometer, a novel sensor based on the magnetostrictive effect of magnetorheological elastomer is proposed. The micromechanical sensor consists of a silicon sensitivity diaphragm embedded with a piezoresistive Wheatstone bridge, and a magnetorheological elastomer layer attached on the sensitivity diaphragm. The interaction between the magnetic field and the elastomer generates a deflection of the sensitivity diaphragm, which changes the piezoresistance and unbalances a Wheatstone bridge. The experimental results show that the sensor has good linearity in the magnetic field range of 0–120 kA/m and the saturation magnetic field is ∼150 kA/m. This simple, low-cost, low-power sensor is easily integrated with electronic circuits using the MEMS processes.

Detection of ethanol and methanol vapors using polymer-coated piezoresistive Si bridge

A novel alcohol vapor sensor based on the swelling effect of polymer film is proposed for detection of alcohol such as methanol and ethanol vapor, which is composed of a Si bridge embedded with piezoresistive Wheatstone bridge and an epoxy acrylate thin polymer layer-coated Si bridge. When the polymer layer absorbs alcohol vapor molecules from ambient air, the swelling of the thin polymer layer leads to bending of the Si bridge which causes the piezoresistive Wheatstone bridge to produce an output voltage. A theoretical model of the interaction between Si bridge and polymer layer is presented based on elastic mechanics theory. An equivalent transverse gas load is presented. The output expression of sensor is obtained. The model of the sensor is verified by the experimental results. The experimental results show that the alcohol vapor sensor has good linearity, selectivity and reproducibility. The proposed alcohol vapor sensor has simply principle, mature technology, low cost, and can be integrated with signal processing circuit using the MEMS processes.

Research of Novel Benzene Vapor Sensor and Theoretical Model

A novel benzene vapor sensor based on the swelling effect of polymer film is proposed, which is composed of a Si Bridge embedded with piezoresistive Wheatstone bridge and a gas-sensitive thin polymer layer. The sensor relies on the swelling of the thin polymer layer due to the uptake of organic vapor molecules from ambient condition. The swelling of the thin polymer layer leads to bending of the Si Bridge which causes the piezoresistive Wheatstone bridge to produce an output voltage. In this paper silicon rubber as sensing film with good sensitivity and selectivity for benzene is used in the novel vapor sensor. A theoretical model of the interaction between Si Bridge and polymer layer is presented based on elastic mechanics theory. An equivalent transverse gas load is presented. The output expression of the sensor is obtained. The model of the sensor is verified by the experimental results. The relationship between the parameters of thin polymer layer and the sensitivity of the sensor is studied. The effects of ambient temperature on the sensitive character are investigated. The experimental results show that the benzene vapor sensor has good linearity, sensitivity, selectivity and reproducibility.

Self-assembly and sensing-group graft of pre-modified CNTs on resonant micro-cantilevers for specific detection of volatile organic compound vapors

This paper reports MWCNT (multi-wall carbon nano-tube)-modified resonant micro-cantilever chemical sensors for detection of trinitrotoluene (TNT) vapor. The MWCNTs are pre-modified and then area-selectively self-assembled at the free-end gold pad of a micro-cantilever, in which a resonance-exciting heater and a signal-readout piezoresistive Wheatstone bridge are integrated. Featuring a high specific surface area, the MWCNTs are further functionalized with TNT-sensitive groups by grafting onto the sidewalls of the MWCNTs. To lower the non-specific absorption of water and other small organic molecules, the SiO2 surface of the micro-cantilever was also pre-treated for hydrophobicity and oleophobicity by self-assembling a monolayer of heptadecafluorodecyltrimethoxysilane. The results of our sensing experiments have shown a capability to rapidly detect ppb-level TNT vapor, and a high specificity of the functionalized groups to TNT molecules. The experiment has also confirmed a good long-term stability in detecting sensitivity.

MEMS magnetic field sensor based on silicon bridge structure

A MEMS piezoresistive magnetic field sensor based on a silicon bridge structure has been simulated and tested. The sensor consists of a silicon sensitivity diaphragm embedded with a piezoresistive Wheatstone bridge, and a ferromagnetic magnet adhered to the sensitivity diaphragm. When the sensor is subjected to an external magnetic field, the magnetic force bends the silicon sensitivity diaphragm, producing stress and resistors change of the Wheatstone bridge and the output voltage of the sensor. Good agreement is observed between the theory and measurement behavior of the magnetic field sensor. Experimental results demonstrate that the maximum sensitivity and minimum resolution are 48 m V/T and 160 μT, respectively, making this device suitable for strong magnetic field measurement. Research results indicate that the sensor repeatability and dynamic response time are about 0.66% and 150 ms, respectively.

Study, design, microfabrication and characterization of a new CMOS compatible multi-terminal pressure sensor with enhanced sensitivity

This paper presents the design, microfabrication and characterization of a CMOS compatible multi-terminal pressure sensor (MTPS). The design is supported by an analytical as well by a numerical study. This sensor is an alternative to the pressure sensors based on both: the conventional silicon Wheatstone Piezoresistive Bridge (WB) and Four-Terminal Pressure Sensors (FTPS). The layout of the MTPS is designed in such a way that the sensor sensitivity is effectively improved and the short-circuit effects, which are modeled by the geometrical correction factor ( G), can be minimized. The effect of a polysilicon gate over the active region of the sensor is studied in order to further enhance its sensitivity. The MTPS was fabricated using two different foundries: one academic (CCS-UNICAMP) and another commercial (0.35 μm CMOS AMS). The MTPS sensor sensitivity amounts to 4.8 and 0.24 mV/psi, respectively. The influence of temperature on the sensors transfer function is also studied.

Design and Simulation of a Micromachined CMOS Temperature Sensor

A design and simulation of a fully CMOS compatible micromachined multilayer cantilevers-based environmental thermometer are presented. The operation principle of the structure is depending on the mismatch effect of thermal expansion coefficient and the piezoresistive effect of polysilicon in CMOS process. Upon temperature variation, the deformation of the multilayer cantilever resulted from the large thermal expansion coefficient mismatch of different materials can be sensed and translated to an electrical voltage output by using a symmetric piezoresistive Wheatstone bridge. The mechanical characteristics of the device are analyzed with the extension of bi-layer Timoshenko model and the output of the read-out circuit is also simulated. The calculation and simulation show that the device with bi-direction deformation may have wide temperature range from -100 to 100°C and sensitivity about 0.15mV/°C, which fit the demand of radiosonde for environmental temperature measurement. This sensor may also have other favorable features, such as micro size, low-cost due to its working principle and compatibility with commercial CMOS process.

Silicon Carbide Differential Amplifiers for High-Temperature Sensing

This paper presents silicon carbide sensor interface circuits and techniques for MEMSbased sensors operating in harsh environments. More specifically, differential amplifiers were constructed using integrated, depletion-mode, n-channel, 6H-SiC JFETs and off-chip passive components. A three-stage voltage amplifier has a differential voltage gain of ~50 dB and a gainbandwidth of ~200 kHz at 450oC, as limited by test parasitics. Such an amplifier could be used to amplify the signals produced by a piezoresistive Wheatstone bridge sensor, for example. Design considerations for 6H-SiC JFET transimpedance amplifiers appropriate for capacitance sensing and for frequency readout from a micromechanical resonator are also presented.