Pressure sensor on the chip, without the communication components (IMB-CNM/CSIC).Nowadays there are several sensor systems and integrated circuits commercially available. Nevertheless, manufacturing techniques for monolithic integration of sensor systems are not standard yet, therefore they need additional post processing.
Researchers from the Spanish National Research Council at the Barcelona Microelectronics Institute (IMB-CNM) have developed a very low cost pressure sensor which is compatible with microelectronic circuits manufacturing techniques.
The sensor is based on changes in capacitance which indicates pressure fluctuations. It can be monolithically integrated on a silicon-based electronic circuit. The production process is compatible with very large scale integration technologies like CMOS.
Monolithic integration reduces the steps of production, increases the sensor signal transduction and reduces the need of additional interconnections in the device.
As a consequence, risk associated to electromagnetic interferences is reduced, and the device is more stable and reliable.
The device developed by the CSIC scientists is available to be applied in quality control systems on a very wide range of application fields such as food packaging, automotive, remote sensing, aeronautics and, in some cases, health monitoring... It can be integrated on different substrates either rigid or flexible –although, in the second case, the chip is still rigid – and it can be scaled in order to match different pressure (from 1 to 16 bars).
Contact:
Isabel Gavilanes-Pérez
Vicepresidencia de Transferencia
de Tecnología - CSIC
Tel.: 93 594 77 00