Design and fabrication of piezoresistive strain-gauges for harsh environment applications

Abstract

Maximum operating temperature is usually one of the limiting factors for using of conventional sensors and other electronic devices. High-temperature sensors and electronics are required in some special applications e.g. measurement of deformations, stresses and pressures inside power generators. The design methodology of the some piezoresistive sensors utilizing FEM simulations is presented. Piezoresistive sensors based on thin-film metal sputtered layers, silicon-on-insulator (SOI) and nanocrystalline diamond layers (NCD) were successfully designed, fabricated and measured. The fabricated sensors are able to operate at temperatures up to 250 °C. Extensive study of sensor parameters e.g. deformation sensitivity, edge and contact resistances, temperature dependences gauge factor, bridge output voltage was performed. The measured values and investigated findings can be used for calibration of simulation software and in prospective design of more complex sensor structures.