Pressure transducer

• US 4,823,230 A
• Filed: 03/04/1988
• Issued: 04/18/1989
• Est. Priority Date: 03/04/1988
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: General Electric Company
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Tiemann, Jerome J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Griffin, Donald A.
• Application Number:
  US07/164,300
• Time in Patent Office: 410 Days
• Field of Search: 361/283, 73/718, 73/724, 73/727, 29/25.42
• US Class Current: 361/283.1
• CPC Class Codes: G01L 9/0072 using variations in capacitance
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/435 Solid dielectric type

Abstract

A pressure transducer has a first electrode fabricated with a predetermined shape upon a substrate surface. A first insulator encloses that portion of the first electrode not enclosed by the substrate; a second insulator forms a wall to a predetermined height above the substrate surface, and outwardly adjacent to the entire periphery of the first electrode. The wall has a base in pressure-tight connection to the substrate and a top opposite to the base. A deflectable second electrode is fabricated in pressure-tight connection across the wall top to enclose, at a reference pressure, a cavity between the first and second electrodes and the wall; the height of the wall, the shape of the first and second electrodes and the deflection characteristics of said second electrode, with respect to pressure, are all predeterminately selected to provide a desired relationship of the capacitance between the first and second electrodes and the pressure incident upon that surface of the second electrode opposite to the cavity.

Claims

1. A pressure-to-capacitance transducer, comprising:

a substrate having a surface;

a first electrode formed of a conductive material upon said substrate surface and having a preselected shape;

a layer of an insulative material covering at least those surfaces of said first electrode not in abutment with said substrate;

a support wall of an insulative material extending above said substrate surface and having a periphery, completely enclosing the active area of said transducer, with a base joined to one of said insulative layer and said substrate in a pressure-tight manner and having a top portion opposite to the base portion; and

a second electrode joined to the support wall top portion completely around the wall periphery and hermetically enclosing a cavity, defined between facing interior surfaces of said wall and said first and second electrodes, of a generally trapezoidal geometry in a plane substantially parallel to said surface and having a first portion wider than a second opposed portion thereof, said second electrode being formed of a conductive material thin film which deflects toward said first electrode with relatively high sensitivity in said first portion and relatively low sensitivity in said second portion responsive to relatively low pressure, and with relatively low sensitivity in said first portion and relatively high sensitivity in said second portion responsive to relatively high pressure, applied to that surface of said second electrode opposed to said cavity, with monotonically increasing electrical capacitance, between said first and second electrodes, for increasing applied pressures greater than a reference pressure in said cavity.

2. The transducer of claim 1, wherein said wall has a substantially constant height, above said substrate surface, along the entire periphery.

3. The transducer of claim 2, wherein said wall has opposed first and second end portions defining the maximum extent of the transducer along a preselected major axis.

4. The transducer of claim 3, wherein the wall also has a pair of side portions, each having opposite ends joined to juxtaposed opposite ends of the end portions of said wall.

5. The transducer of claim 4, wherein the first and second end portions are substantially parallel to one another.

6. The transducer of claim 5, wherein the wall side portions are substantially symmetrically disposed with respect to a major axis of the transducer.

7. The transducer of claim 3, wherein the first wall end portion is of greater dimension than the second wall end portion.

8. The transducer of claim 1, further comprising another layer of material interposed between the top portion of said wall and the second electrode, and of a shape selected to limit the strain placed on the second electrode at the maximum pressure-responsive deflection thereof.

9. The transducer of claim 8, wherein said another layer is fabricated of the same material as said second electrode.

10. The transducer of claim 1, further comprising a gas, filling said cavity and selected to at least partially temperature-compensate the pressure-versus-capacitance curve of said transducer.

11. A method for fabricating a pressure-to-capacitance transducer, comprising the steps of:

(a) providing a substrate having a surface;

(b) fabricating a first conductive electrode, having a preselected shape, upon the substrate surface;

(c) fabricating a layer of a first insulative material covering all portions of the first electrode not in abutment with the substrate;

(d) covering at least a portion of the first insulative layer with a layer of a second insulative material, different from the first insulative material, with the second insulative layer having a free surface opposite to the substrate;

(e) fabricating, upon the second insulative layer free surface, a second electrode as a thin film of a second material and having another preselected shape; and

(f) removing a portion of the second insulative layer to form a cavity bounded by (1) the second electrode and at least one of the first insulative layer and the substrate and (2) a continuous wall of the second insulative material extending in pressure-tight manner between the second electrode and at least one of the first insulative layer and the substrate.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein step (f) includes the steps of:

(f1) forming an array of apertures through the second electrode;

(f2) introducing through the apertures an etchant selected to remove a predetermined volume of the second insulative layer material while not substantially removing any of the materials of the first insulative layer, the second electrode and the substrate; and

(f3) then closing all of the apertures in the second electrode to hermetically seal the underlying cavity.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising the step of covering an exterior surface of the second insulative layer with a non-etchable material prior to commencement of step (f2).

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising the step of filling the cavity volume with a gas at a second reference pressure prior to sealing the cavity.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising the step of selecting the cavity-filling gas to at least partially temperature-compensate the pressure-versus-capacitance curve of the transducer.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein step (e) includes the step of fabricating as a narrow ribbon having a shape defining the outer edge of the second electrode, an intermediate layer of a selected material between the second insulative layer free surface and the second electrode.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the intermediate layer and second electrode are fabricated of the same conductive material.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the conductive material is a selectively deposited material.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the conductive material is tungsten.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the second insulative layer is fabricated of silicon dioxide.