Review: Semiconductor Piezoresistance for Microsystems

By A. Barlian, Woo-Tae Park, J. Mallon, A. Rastegar, B. Pruitt. Proceedings of the IEEE, 2009

834 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Piezoresistive sensors are among the earliest micromachined silicon devices. The need for smaller, less expensive, higher performance sensors helped drive early micromachining technology, a precursor to microsystems or microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). The effect of stress on doped silicon and germanium has been known since the work of Smith at Bell Laboratories in 1954. Since then, researchers have extensively reported on microscale, piezoresistive strain gauges, pressure sensors, accelerometers, and cantilever force/displacement sensors, including many commercially successful devices. In this paper, we review the history of piezoresistance, its physics and related fabrication techniques. We also discuss electrical noise in piezoresistors, device examples and design considerations, and alternative materials. This paper provides a comprehensive overview of integrated piezoresistor technology with an introduction to the physics of piezoresistivity, process and material selection and design guidance useful to researchers and device engineers.

Subfields: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics, Electrical and Electronic Engineering

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/c8a4b6093f02b5b29b13d79dc8d68116b78e2ec5

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In Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics

In Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Citations in the corpus

The Piezoresistive Effect of SiC for MEMS Sensors at High Temperatures: A Review (2015, background): “[1], the piezoresistive effect in 3C-SiC was mentioned but not discussed in detail.”
The Emergence of AI-Based Wearable Sensors for Digital Health Technology: A Review (2023, background): “…semiconductors, such as silicon and germanium, the sensing mechanism is related to electron and hole transport in crystalline structures under strain and temperature effects [88]. is related to electron and hole transport in crystalline structures under strain and temperature effects [88].”