Effects of Temperature and Residual Stresses on the Output Characteristics of a Piezoresistive Pressure Sensor

The effects of temperature on the output performance of piezoresistive pressure sensors are studied in this paper. The influences of the environmental temperature, the residual stress due to the fabrication process, and the residual stress due to the packaging on the piezoresistive coefficient and resistance are theoretically investigated. The simulation results are obtained via finite element analysis through ANSYS. The results of experimental studies performed on piezoresistive pressure sensors fabricated using MEMS techniques are reported to verify the simulation results. The output characteristics of piezoresistive pressure sensors are shown to be substantially affected by not only the environmental temperature but also the residual stresses from the fabrication and packing processes.