A wake-up switch using a piezoelectric differential pressure sensor

This paper reports a wake-up switch using a piezoelectric differential pressure sensor in order to reduce the power consumption of a wireless sensor node. Air pressure change surrounding the sensor is detected by using a Pb(Zr, Ti)O
₃
(PZT) thin film cantilever with the dimension of 1500 μm × 1000 μm × 2 μm. The sensor has high sensitivity with low power consumption due to its thin cantilever and low capacitance. The sensitivity was 2.4 mV/Pa from -30 Pa to 30 Pa. It was demonstrated that the fabricated sensor performed as a wake-up switch when pressure varies in 10 Pa with low power consumption.