Monolithic Surface-Micromachined Sensor System for High Pressure Applications

A new generation of Pressure Sensor ICs for automotive and industrial applications will be presented. Surface μ-machined capacitive sensor cells are embedded into a standard BiCMOS-Process, yielding a monolithically integrated High-Pressure-Sensor-System. On-Chip signal conditioning includes functions such as detection of pressure dependent capacity, A/D conversion, digital calibration, temperature compensation, D/A reconversion and ratiometric analog output. The sensor systems are operating in pressure ranges up to 400 bar with an accuracy of 1.5% in a premoulded DSOF-8 standard package. With several 40 bar and 200 bar sensor systems overpressure tests up to 600 bar were passed succesfully.