A surface-micromachined resonant-beam pressure-sensing structure

The first study on an entirely surface-micromachined resonant-beam pressure sensor is presented. Using a fully surface-micromachined process, an encapsulated beam resonant pressure-sensor structure with a pressure-sensitive diaphragm of 100/spl times/150/spl times/2 /spl mu/m has been fabricated. The resonating beam is fully enclosed inside the reference vacuum cavity formed beneath the diaphragm. The new design enables high pressure sensitivity and a miniature chip size, essential for sensors such as catheter-mounted intravascular blood pressure sensors. The pressure sensitivity is measured at 3.2%/bar with a beam resonance frequency of about 700 kHz.