A technology for the monolithic fabrication of a pressure sensor and related circuitry

Abstract A simple technology for the monolithic fabrication of piezoresistive pressure sensors and signal-conditioning circuitry is presented. The proposed methodology is based on the partition of the complete process into three main blocks: pre-processing steps, related to the sensor structure, standard CMOS technology and post-processing, corresponding to wafer backside etching. The feasibility of the presented technology is demonstrated by the results obtained from the characterization of the sensor devices, circuits and sensor-circuit combination that have been designed, fabricated and tested. In addition, the results obtained from a complete set of technological test structures show no significant effect of the additional processing on the characteristics of the standard CMOS technology.