Packaged bulk micromachined resonant force sensor for high-temperature applications

Abstract

We present a packaged micro resonator for static load measurement under high temperature, performing with high precision and a resolution better than 100 ppm. There is an industrial need for such measurement tasks, however, such sensing cells are not available so far. To minimize temperatures stress we developed an all-in-silicon, in difference to micro machined resonant force sensors, which have been published. We propose a force sensor where load coupling, the excitation and detection of the vibration of the micro resonator are integrated in one and the same single crystal silicon package. The complete single crystal design together with a fiber-optical on-chip detection method will allow measurements at high temperatures. A considerable degree of freedom for the resonator's shape design, as needed for the investigation of filer mechanisms, is given by a DRIE fabrication method.