Published Paper Details:

MEMS is generally considered as a micro-system, which is an integration of sensors, actuators and micro-electronic circuits on silicon substrate ranging from sub-micron level to few millimetre levels by using micro-fabrication technology. These compact, cost effective and highly sophisticated devices are found to replace the bulky counterparts efficiently in many traditional applications. Now-a-days, MEMS has been getting wide popularity in various fields of research such as aero-space, bio-medical, consumer electronics, communication, automation etc. and so is becoming an interdisciplinary field of engineering research. The most adorable feature of MEMS is the ability to integrate sensing, controlling and actuating functions on a single chip. Here, an attempt has been made to cover the application of MEMS in pressure sensor system, where diaphragm is observed to play a vital rule. The efficiency of a pressure sensor mostly depends on the design of the diaphragm and location of sensing materials. We have investigated the effect of size and thickness of the Si-diaphragm and ZnO piezoelectric material blocks on pressures sensors constituting of Si-diaphragm, SiO2-insulator and ZnO-piezoelectric blocks. The effects have been measured in terms of three vary important parameters of pressure sensors viz. stress experienced, voltage induced and deflection taken place. The values for these three parameters are calculated via mathematical modelling and computational simulation using COMSOL Multiphysics software. Two sets of values thus obtained for every parameter are found to approximate closely and so vindicate our method of study in COMSOL Multiphysics software. From the study, it is observed that stress experienced by the pressure sensor is directly proportional to the size of the diaphragm, while it is inversely proportional to the thickness of the diaphragm as well as the piezoelectric material layer. Voltage induced at the pressure sensor is directly proportional to the size of the diaphragm as well as the thickness of the piezoelectric material, while it is inversely proportional to the thickness of the diaphragm. Deflection taken place of the pressure sensor system is nearly independent of the thickness of the piezoelectric material, but it increases gradually with increase in the size of the diaphragm. Thus for an effective design of a pressure sensor system, the diaphragm and the piezoelectric materials should be of low thickness, while the area of the diaphragm should be sufficiently high.