Pressure sensor with apertured membrane guard

• US 20060081043A1
• Filed: 10/18/2004
• Published: 04/20/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 10/18/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Precision Mechatronics Pty Ltd
• Original Assignee: Silverbrook Research Pty Limited
• Inventors: Silverbrook, Kia, Mallinson, Samuel George
• Granted Patent: US 7,194,901 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 73/146
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 23/0408 transmitting the signals by non-mechanical means from the wheel or tyre to a vehicle body mounted receiver
• CPC Class Codes: G01L 19/0636 using particle filters
• CPC Class Codes: G01L 9/0072 using variations in capacitance
• CPC Class Codes: G01L 9/0075 using a ceramic diaphragm, e.g. alumina, fused quartz, glass
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 29/66007 Multistep manufacturing processes
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/49155 Manufacturing circuit on or in base
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/49156 with selective destruction of conductive paths

Abstract

A pressure sensor (30) for harsh environments such as vehicle tires, formed from a wafer substrate (32) with a recess, a flexible membrane (50) covering the recess to define a chamber (58) containing a fluid at a reference pressure. In use, the flexible membrane (50) deflects due to pressure differentials between the reference pressure and the fluid pressure. Associated circuitry (34) converts the deflection of the flexible membrane (50) into an output signal indicative of the fluid pressure. An apertured guard (54) over the membrane formed using lithographically masked etching and deposition techniques protects the delicate MEMS structures. Forming the guard in situ by depositing material offers greater time efficiency and accuracy than producing a guard separately and securing it over the membrane. Semiconductor etching and deposition techniques allow highly intricate surface details. The apertures in the guard can be made smaller to exclude more particles from contacting the membrane. The fine tolerances of lithographic deposition permit the guard to be positioned close to the membrane for a more compact overall design.

Claims

1. A pressure sensor for sensing a fluid pressure, the pressure sensor comprising:

a wafer substrate with a recess;

a flexible membrane covering the recess to define a chamber containing a fluid at a reference pressure, such that the flexible membrane deflects due to pressure differentials between the reference pressure and the fluid pressure;

associated circuitry for converting the deflection of the flexible membrane into an output signal indicative of the fluid pressure; and

,

an apertured guard over the membrane formed using lithographically masked etching and deposition techniques.

2. A pressure sensor according to claim 1 wherein the flexible membrane is a laminate having at least two layers formed from the deposition of different metal ceramics.

3. A pressure sensor according to claim 2 wherein the metal ceramics are metal nitrides or mixed metal nitrides.

4. A pressure sensor according to claim 2 wherein the metal ceramics are titanium nitride, titanium aluminium nitride, tantalum silicon nitride, titanium aluminium silicon nitride, or tantalum aluminium silicon nitride.

5. A pressure sensor according to claim 4 wherein one or more of the layers of the laminate is metal.

6. A pressure sensor according to claim 5 wherein the metal is titanium, tantalum or vanadium.

7. A pressure sensor according to claim 1 wherein, the chamber, the flexible membrane and the associated circuitry are all formed on a silicon wafer substrate using lithographically masked etching and deposition techniques.

8. A pressure sensor according to claim 1 wherein the membrane is less than 0.1 grams.

9. A pressure sensor according to claim 1 wherein the pressure sensor is adapted to sense the air pressure within a pneumatic tire.

10. A pressure sensor according to claim 1 wherein the membrane is non-planar.

11. A pressure sensor according to claim 10 wherein the membrane is corrugated.

12. A pressure sensor according to claim 11 wherein, the membrane corrugations have a period of between 5 microns and 15 microns.

13. A pressure sensor according to claim 1 wherein, the membrane is substantially circular and the corrugations are annular.

14. A pressure sensor according to claim 10 wherein the corrugations have a substantially square-shaped cross-sectional profile.

15. A pressure sensor according to claim 14 wherein the flexible corrugated membrane has a corrugation factor of 8.

16. A pressure sensor according to claim 15 wherein the sensor has a linear response up to about 1 MPa.

17. A pressure sensor according to claim 1 wherein the sensor is powered by a long-life battery.

18. A pressure sensor according to claim 1 wherein the sensor is powered by radio waves transmitted from a remote source.

19. A pressure sensor according to claim 1 wherein the sensor is a capacitative sensor having:

a conductive layer deposited in the chamber to form a first capacitor electrode; and

,

the flexible membrane is conductive in order to form a second capacitor electrode;

such that,

deflection of the flexible membrane changes the capacitance which the associated circuitry converts to the output signal;

wherein,

the conductive layer is arranged such that deflection of the membrane towards the conductive layer can displace the fluid from between the membrane and the conductive layer.

20. A pressure sensor according to claim 19 further comprising a passivation layer at least partially deposited over the conductive layer.

21. A pressure sensor according to claim 20 further comprising a CMOS layer disposed between the conductive layer and the substrate.

22. A pressure sensor according to claim 21 wherein the membrane is approximately 0.5 μ

m thick.

23. A pressure sensor according to claim 19 wherein the conductive layer is less than 50 microns from the membrane in its undeflected state.

24. A pressure sensor according to claim 1 wherein the apertured guard is a laminate of different layers.

25. A pressure sensor according to claim 1 further comprising a second chamber with a second membrane, the second chamber being sealed from the fluid pressure and the second membrane deflecting from a predetermined pressure difference in the second chamber;

wherein,

the associated circuitry converts the deflection of the second membrane into an adjustment of the output signal to compensate for the temperature of the sensor.

26. A pressure sensor according to claim 25 wherein the sensor is a capacitative sensor, with a conductive layer deposited in each of the first and second chambers and the first and second flexible membranes are conductive;

such that,

the conductive layer in the first chamber and the first flexible membrane form capacitor electrodes and the deflection of the first flexible membrane changes the capacitance which the associated circuitry converts to the output signal.

27. A pressure sensor according to claim 26 wherein the membrane is at least partially formed from a metal ceramic material.

28. A pressure sensor according to claim 27 wherein the conductive ceramic is a metal nitride.

29. A pressure sensor according to claim 28 wherein the membrane is titanium nitride, tantalum nitride, vanadium nitride.

30. A pressure sensor according to claim 27 wherein the membrane is be formed from mixed metal nitrides.

31. A pressure sensor according to claim 30 wherein the mixed metal nitrides are titanium silicon nitride, tantalum silicon nitride, vanadium silicon nitride, titanium aluminium silicon nitride, or tantalum aluminium silicon nitride.

32. A pressure sensor according to claim 1 wherein the conductive layer is apertured to allow the fluid to flow from between the membrane and the conductive layer.

33. A pressure sensor according to claim 1 wherein the wafer is a first wafer substrate with a front side and an opposing back side, a recess etched into the front side and at least one hole etched from the back side to the recess;

and the sensor further comprising;

a second wafer on the back side of the first wafer to seal the at least one hole;

wherein,

the second wafer is wafer bonded to the first wafer substrate.

34. A pressure sensor according to claim 33 wherein the wafer bonding is direct wafer bonding whereby the contacting surfaces of the first and second wafers are ultra clean, and activated by making them hydrophilic or hydrophobic prior to bonding, and then brought into contact at high temperature.

35. A pressure sensor according to claim 1 wherein the contacting surfaces are brought together at a temperature greater than 700°

C.

36. A pressure sensor according to claim 35 wherein, the wafer bonding is anodic bonding offers whereby the contacting surfaces of the first and second wafers have a large voltage applied across them.

37. A pressure sensor according to claim 36 wherein the wafer bonding is intermediate layer bonding whereby a layer of low melting point material is applied to one or both of the contacting surfaces of the first and second wafers so that heat and pressure forms the wafer bond.

38. A pressure sensor according to claim 37 wherein the low melting point material is silicon nitride or titanium nitride.

39. A pressure sensor according to claim 1 wherein the membrane is circular with a diameter less than 500 microns.

40. A pressure sensor according to claim 39 wherein the membrane diameter is less than 300 microns.

41. A pressure sensor according to claim 40 wherein the membrane diameter is 100 microns.

42. A pressure sensor according to claim 24 wherein the layers are different materials.

43. A pressure sensor according to claim 42 wherein the different materials are silicon nitride and silicon dioxide.

44. A method of fabricating pressure sensor for sensing a fluid pressure, the method of fabrication comprising:

sequential etching and deposition of material on a wafer substrate to form a chamber at least partially defined by a flexible membrane;

such that,

during use the chamber contains a fluid at a reference pressure and the flexible membrane deflects from a pressure difference between the reference pressure and the fluid pressure;

depositing associated circuitry for converting the deflection of the flexible membrane into an output signal indicative of the fluid pressure; and

,

depositing an apertured guard over the membrane.

45. A method according to claim 44 wherein the apertured guard is deposited as layers of different materials to form a laminate.

46. A method according to claim 45 wherein the different materials are silicon nitride and silicon dioxide.