United Technologies Corporation

Harold D Meyer

Robert H Bullis

Walter J Wiegand, Jr

James L Swindal

Charles B Brahm

Frank W Gobetz

Paul L Provenzano

Robert J Kuhlberg

A silicon capacitive pressure sensor is disclosed that has a glass dielectric material sputter-deposited onto a silicon substrate of the sensor. After deposition of the bulk dielectric material, the glass is patterned and etched to form a pair of concentric rings. An inner ring is of a circular shape, while the outer ring is of an octagonal shape. As compared to prior art dielectric spacers which are of a single ring of relatively wide thickness, the pair of concentric rings disclosed herein significantly reduce the parasitic capacitance of the glass dielectric material, thereby increasing the sensitivity of the sensor.

Capacitive pressure sensor having a reduced area dielectric spacer

A silicon capacitive pressure sensor is disclosed having a silicon substrate and a silicon diaphragm separated by a glass dielectric spacer. The substrate has an upper surface formed as a mesa which is generally curved in shape, the curvature being concave. Due to manufacturing constraints the mesa upper surface comprises a series of concentric rings that approximate the desired concave shape. The step height and diameter of the rings are such that, at full deflection of the diaphragm, the diaphragm touches the center of the mesa, but not the edges of the individual steps. That is, letting the edges or corners of the steps define a curve, the radius of curvature of the diaphragm is smaller than the radius of curvature of the locus of the step corners.

Capacitive pressure sensor having a substrate with a curved mesa

Pressure sensors utilizing capacitance variations to sense pressure variations of the silicon-on-silicon type in which dielectric drift, which occurs in such sensors due to the changing characteristics primarily of the dielectric wall support layer (16) extending up from the silicon substrate (12) between it and the silicon diaphragm (11), is minimized by in turn minimizing the contribution of the dielectric layer to the total capacitance of the sensor (10), reducing the dielectric contribution of the capacitance from, for example, about fifty (50%) percent down to a range of no more than about twenty to twenty-five (20-25%) percent and down typically to sixteen to about ten (16%-10%) percent of the total capacitance or lower. Three exemplary approaches are illustrated, namely, etching the outer edges of the dielectric layer, making the wall(s) it form(s) thinner (FIG. 2); reducing the horizontal thickness of the effective peripheral, lower edge(s) of the silicon diaphragm where it interfaces in contact with the wall(s) formed by the dielectric layer (FIG. 3); and/or reducing the horizontal thickness of the effective peripheral, upper edge(s) of the silicon base or substrate where it interfaces with the wall(s) formed by the dielectric layer (FIUG. 4); and/or a combination of one or more of these approaches or any other approach that minimizes the effective capacitive contribution of the peripheral dielectric layer to the total capacitance of the sensor and hence to long term drift.

Capacitive sensor with minimized dielectric drift

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South Windsor, CT, United States of America

Harold D Meyer