Design and fabrication of ultrathin silicon-based strain gauges for piezoresistive pressure sensor

Ultra-thin (20 μm) silicon strain gauges were fabricated with silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafer by a newly-conceived wet etching process. Buffered oxide etchant (BOE, NH₄F: HF = 6:1) solution with additives of octylamine and octanol was used for wet etching process in which the operating temperature was 50°C. Photoresist as a passivation layer was deposited on the upper side of SOI wafer to minimize strain gauge damage by chemical etchants. Small amount of octylamine and octanol were added to BOE solution to improve surface wettability and SiO₂/Si selectivity. The fabricated strain gauges were attached to the pressure diaphragm and the performance of strain gauge was investigated by measuring with the hydraulic pressure system. The resistance changed linearly with tensile and compressive strains. Maximum values of non-linearity, hysteresis, thermal coefficient of resistance (TCR) and sensitivity were -0.341 %, 0.909 %, 4128 ppm/°C and 34.22 mV/V respectively. The fabricated strain gauges might be well applicable to the hydrogen pressure sensor which is detectable for high pressure range (0–900 bar).