Abstract
SiC is a well known wide band gap semiconductor explored for realizing the piezoresistive micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) pressure sensors for harsh environments. In this work a thin SiC diaphragm based piezoresistive pressure sensor was designed by locating the resistors of different SiC polytypes such as 3C, 4H, and 6H-SiC, on highly stressed zone of the diaphragm and analyzed. The sensor design parameters were extensively studied by executing the finite element method (FEM) and piezoresistive simulation using device simulation software. The sensor characteristics were measured for different SiC polytypes and compared for different design parameter variations to obtain the optimum sensor performance under the influence of the pressure upto 8 MPa. Influence of temperature for heavily doped SiC polytypes is also studied. The simulation results shows that the pressure sensor with 3C-SiC polytype offers higher sensitivity 7.3 μV/V/KPa as compared to 4H-SiC and 6H-SiC polytypes.
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Authors are grateful to all the scientific and technical staff of Electronics & Instrumentation Group to execute the work and allowed to use the facilities.
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All authors discussed the content of the article, based on their domain expertise on the subjects presented. M. K. Patankar and M. Kasinathan prepare and run the simulation work. R. P. Behera developed the idea. S. Dhara and T. Jayanthi supervised the study and discussed the results, proofread the manuscript, and confirmed its findings. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Patankar, M.K., Kasinathan, M., Behera, R.P. et al. A Simulation Approach to Study the Effect of SiC Polytypism Factor on Sensitivity of Piezoresistive MEMS Pressure Sensor. Silicon 14, 3307–3315 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12633-021-01073-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12633-021-01073-9