High Sensitive and Linear Pressure Sensor for Ultra-low Pressure Measurement☆

Abstract A novel peninsula-structured diaphragm with specially designed piezoresistors was proposed in our present pressure sensor for ultra-low pressure measurement. Finite element method (FEM) was adopted for analyzing the sensor performance. In comparison to typical sensors with flat and center-bossed diaphragms, the optimized sensor design could achieve excellent sensitivity and linearity. In accordance with the FEM results, the fabricated pressure sensor showed a sensitivity of 18.4 mV/V full-scale output and a nonlinearity error of 0.36%FSS in the pressure range 0-5 kPa. The proposed sensor structure is potentially a better choice for measuring low pressures.