Lecture 4 Piezoresistive Sensors

Piezoresistive Sensors
Piezoresistive Sensors
• Piezoresistive sensors are based on piezoresistive effect of
monocrystalline silicon and are made up by using an integrated
circuit technique.
• They are generally used in measuring pressure and some other

physical parameters that can be converted into pressure.
• Microfabrication and MEMS technology have made the

miniaturization of piezoresistive sensors possible and applicable in
practice
Piezoresistive Effect
• The piezoresistive effect describes the changing electrical resistance of a material
due to applied mechanical stress.
• It only causes a change in resistance and does not produce an electric potential.
• If a mechanical stress σ is applied on a resistor, the resistivity change Δρ/ρ can be

calculated as:
Δρ/ρ=Π⋅σ (3.3)
where Π is the piezoresistivity coefficient
• The sensitivity of piezoresistive devices is
characterized by the gage factor:
K=(ΔR/R)/ε (3.4)
• where ΔR is the change in resistance due to
deformation, R is the undeformed resistance and
ε is the strain
• The resistance of silicon changes is affected not only by the stress dependent change of geometry, but also
by the stress dependent resistivity of the material.
• The latter is the dominant factor, which results in sensitivity to orders of magnitudes larger than those
observed in metals.
• This effect is present in materials like germanium, polycrystalline silicon, amorphous silicon, silicon
carbide, and single crystal silicon, which are among the several types of semiconductor materials.
• Since Silicon is today the material of choice for integrated digital and analog circuits, the use of
piezoresistive silicon devices has been of great interest.
• Many commercial devices such as pressure sensors and acceleration sensors employ the piezoresistive
effect in silicon.
• Usually the resistance change in metals is mostly due to the change of geometry resulting from applied
mechanical stress (as in case of strain resistive sensors). However, even though the piezoresistive effect is
small in those cases it is often not negligible
Measurement
• The measuring circuits for piezoresistive sensors are similar to strain
sensor measurement
• A wheatstone bridge is primarily used in piezoresistive sensor devices, but

with different signal conditioners
• Semiconductor materials are more temperature-sensitive and nonlinear

than metal materials
• Piezoresistive pressure sensors are usable only after corrections have

been made for offset and compensation for temperature
Measurement
• For medium-accuracy sensors, a resistor network can compensate for
offset, offset drift, and FSO (full-scale output) drift (Fig. 3.8).
• Zero trim resistors adjust for initial offset.
• But the bridge resistors have a positive temperature coefficient that

causes the bridge voltage to rise with temperature, so resistor RTS is used
to stabilize the sensitivity by shunting an increasing amount of excitation
current as temperature rises.
• Besides, resistor RTZ works against the change of offset with temperature.
Fig. 3.8. Interaction of the three compensation mechanisms in a conventional resistive
compensation circuit (RTS for sensitivity drift, RTZ for offset drift, and zero trim resistors)
Measurement
• But biomedical detection needs better precision.
• Fig. 3.9 shows an integrated compensation circuit which includes

two main functional blocks: a controlled current source for driving
the sensor, and a programmable-gain amplifier (PGA, implemented
in switched-capacitor technology and virtually free of offset).
• The numerous external resistors and voltage dividers are commonly

realized with hybrid technology and adjusted with laser trimming.
• The temperature drift is adjusted by feeding back the sensor’s drive

voltage (from the BDRIVE pin) to the ISRC pin.
Fig. 3.9. Laser-trimmed resistor dividers in the MAX1450 signal conditioner
provide better than 1% compensation full scale over temperature
Measurement
• The circuit’s initial sensitivity is adjusted at the FSOTRIM pin
of MAX1450.
• Compensation of offset and offset drift is accomplished at

the PGA and decoupled from the sensitivity compensation.
• The key function, however, is the controlled current source,

which implements a unique algorithm for compensating
the sensitivity drift.
Biomedical Applications
• Piezoresistive sensors are widely used to measure
pressure in biomedicine.
• To reduce the unavoidable nonlinearity increase

with sensitivity thin structured membranes in
piezoresistive pressure sensors to obtain high-
performance is used
• A generally used Si/Porous-Si membrane is shown in Fig. 3.10.
• Various diaphragms are also used to realize low pressure

measurement in biomedicine, such as respirators, ventilators and
spirometers.
• Among the diaphragms, nanocrystalline silicon, which is a mixture

of silicon, silicon oxide, and voids and formed by electrochemical
etching of silicon, increases the sensitivity almost three times to
that of conventional piezoresistive pressure sensors of similar
dimensions.
A respirator is a device designed to protect the wearer from inhaling harmful dusts, fumes, vapors, or gases.
A spirometer is an apparatus for measuring the volume of air inspired and expired by the lungs.
Void, a pore that remains unoccupied in a composite material
• With the development of MEMS technology,
ultra-miniaturized piezoresistive pressure sensors
are developed to monitor intra-cranial pressure
during neurosurgery, air pressure for respiratory
disease, blood pressure during surgery/intensive
care, intra-uterine for obstetrics, and
abdominal/urinary pressure for the diagnosis of
respective disorders
Obstetrics: the branch of medicine and surgery concerned with childbirth and midwifery.
• Apart from pressure sensing, a
piezoresitive sensor is also
applied in a position-sensing
system for a MEMS-based
cochlear implant
• Fig. 3.11a shows the prototype

of a fully-implantable thin-film
cochlear prosthesis
• A polysilicon piezoresistive position-sensing system is monolithically integrated into the
electrode arrays in order to provide real-time visualization of array position for the surgeon.
• The sensing array of the cochlear microsystem consists of the electrode array, flip-chip
bonded to a signal-processing chip.
• As shown in Fig. 3.11b, the position sensors with each formed using two strain-sensing
resistors in a half-bridge configuration are implemented underneath electrode sites using
piezoresistive polysilicon strain gages and extra passivating dielectrics (Kensall et al., 2008).
• Polysilicon wall-contact and strain gages are buried under IrO sites distributed along the
shank
• A microprocessor gives instructions to the circuit chip
to select the addressed sensor, and the addressed
sensor bridge is connected to the positive input of an
instrumentation amplifier (Wang et al., 2005), which is
referenced to a voltage generated by the DAC (Fig.
3.11c).
• Then the bridge output signal is amplified and filtered

to determine local bending
• Another development of piezoresistive sensors is
as an application in wearable devices with smart
textiles to monitor gesture, posture, or
respiration.
• The piezoresistive sensors can be yarn-based

(Huang et al., 2008), and can measure respiratory
rate even in the rapid running motion
Input pressure vs. output voltage of piezoresistive pressure sensor at different
temperature.
Assignment
• Review two research papers relevant to the
development of modern piezoresistive sensors
with different applications.
• Only select papers published since 2009

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Piezoresistive Sensors

• They are generally used in measuring pressure and some other

• Microfabrication and MEMS technology have made the

• If a mechanical stress σ is applied on a resistor, the resistivity change Δρ/ρ can be

• A wheatstone bridge is primarily used in piezoresistive sensor devices, but

• Semiconductor materials are more temperature-sensitive and nonlinear

• Piezoresistive pressure sensors are usable only after corrections have

• Zero trim resistors adjust for initial offset.

• But the bridge resistors have a positive temperature coefficient that

• Fig. 3.9 shows an integrated compensation circuit which includes

• The numerous external resistors and voltage dividers are commonly

• The temperature drift is adjusted by feeding back the sensor’s drive

• Compensation of offset and offset drift is accomplished at

• The key function, however, is the controlled current source,

• To reduce the unavoidable nonlinearity increase

• Various diaphragms are also used to realize low pressure

• Among the diaphragms, nanocrystalline silicon, which is a mixture

• Fig. 3.11a shows the prototype

• Then the bridge output signal is amplified and filtered

• The piezoresistive sensors can be yarn-based

• Only select papers published since 2009

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