Linearization of Characteristic Response of a Capacitive MEMS Pressure Sensor by Patterning the Dielectric Layer

The present work introduces a novel design that linearizes the characteristic capacitance-pressure (C-P) response of the pressure sensor in contact mode. The design relies on patterning the insulating (dielectric) layer that separates the two electrodes of the device when the device is in contact mode. Since the capacitance is inversely proportional to the gap between the electrodes and the dielectric constant of the insulating layer is several times more than that of air (or vacuum), the contact region of the two electrodes makes more significant contribution to the overall capacitance of the system. Therefore, if the dielectric layer is properly patterned, the shape of C-P response can be controlled. In this work, we focus on linearity of the sensor response, and design and optimize dielectric pattern to achieve the highest linearity. Finite element simulations are used to demonstrate the applicability of the design concept. Different sensor designs are modeled and simulated using ANSYS® Multiphysics solver and their responses are compared to that of a conventional capacitive pressure sensor. Coefficient of linear correlation between pressure and capacitance is used as a quantitative measure for improvement of linearity. The simulation results show that the linearity of the C-P response improves from 0.930 in a 600 μm-diameter conventional design to 0.978 for a sensor with patterned dielectric layer. Moreover, a smaller sensor with 300 μm diameter display linearity of 0.999 over a 1.25 MPa – 5.0 MPa pressure range.