Response of Piezoresistive MEMS Accelerometers and Pressure Transducers to High Gamma Dose

Keith Holbert; James A. Nessel; Steven S. McCready; A. Sharif Heger; Thomas H. Harlow

doi:10.1109/TNS.2003.821373

Response of Piezoresistive MEMS Accelerometers and Pressure Transducers to High Gamma Dose

Keith Holbert, James A. Nessel, Steven S. McCready, A. Sharif Heger, Thomas H. Harlow

Electrical Engineering

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

20 Scopus citations

Abstract

Several piezoresistive microelectromechanical (MEMS) sensors are operated in a gamma ray environment to doses of 800 kGy. The pressure transducers and accelerometers are micromachined silicon-on-insulator (SOI) and bulk silicon devices, respectively. Both sensor types experienced similar performance degradation: a drift in offset voltage with a slight increase in sensitivity. We explain the drift in offset voltage for all sensors tested by correlating the change in resistance of the silicon piezoresistors to the formation of oxide and interface trapped hole charges. We demonstrate how these charges effectively reduce the volume for current flow through the piezoresistors due to the creation of a depletion region surrounding the periphery of the gage resistors. Differences in the magnitude of the output voltage drift of the two sensor types are determined to be related to the unique construction of each sensor.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	1852-1859
Number of pages	8
Journal	IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science
Volume	50
Issue number	6 I
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/TNS.2003.821373
State	Published - Dec 2003

Keywords

Accelerometers
Gamma radiation
Microelectromechanical (MEMS)
Piezoresistive
Pressure transducers

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Nuclear and High Energy Physics
Nuclear Energy and Engineering
Electrical and Electronic Engineering

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10.1109/TNS.2003.821373

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title = "Response of Piezoresistive MEMS Accelerometers and Pressure Transducers to High Gamma Dose",

abstract = "Several piezoresistive microelectromechanical (MEMS) sensors are operated in a gamma ray environment to doses of 800 kGy. The pressure transducers and accelerometers are micromachined silicon-on-insulator (SOI) and bulk silicon devices, respectively. Both sensor types experienced similar performance degradation: a drift in offset voltage with a slight increase in sensitivity. We explain the drift in offset voltage for all sensors tested by correlating the change in resistance of the silicon piezoresistors to the formation of oxide and interface trapped hole charges. We demonstrate how these charges effectively reduce the volume for current flow through the piezoresistors due to the creation of a depletion region surrounding the periphery of the gage resistors. Differences in the magnitude of the output voltage drift of the two sensor types are determined to be related to the unique construction of each sensor.",

keywords = "Accelerometers, Gamma radiation, Microelectromechanical (MEMS), Piezoresistive, Pressure transducers",

author = "Keith Holbert and Nessel, {James A.} and McCready, {Steven S.} and Heger, {A. Sharif} and Harlow, {Thomas H.}",

note = "Funding Information: Manuscript received July 18, 2003; revised August 28, 2003. This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract W-7405-ENG-36. K. E. Holbert and J. A. Nessel are with the Department of Electrical Engineering, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287 USA (e-mail: Holbert@asu.edu). S. S. McCready, A. S. Heger, and T. H. Harlow are with the Engineering Sciences and Applications Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545 USA. Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TNS.2003.821373",

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AU - Harlow, Thomas H.

N1 - Funding Information: Manuscript received July 18, 2003; revised August 28, 2003. This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract W-7405-ENG-36. K. E. Holbert and J. A. Nessel are with the Department of Electrical Engineering, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287 USA (e-mail: Holbert@asu.edu). S. S. McCready, A. S. Heger, and T. H. Harlow are with the Engineering Sciences and Applications Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545 USA. Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TNS.2003.821373

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N2 - Several piezoresistive microelectromechanical (MEMS) sensors are operated in a gamma ray environment to doses of 800 kGy. The pressure transducers and accelerometers are micromachined silicon-on-insulator (SOI) and bulk silicon devices, respectively. Both sensor types experienced similar performance degradation: a drift in offset voltage with a slight increase in sensitivity. We explain the drift in offset voltage for all sensors tested by correlating the change in resistance of the silicon piezoresistors to the formation of oxide and interface trapped hole charges. We demonstrate how these charges effectively reduce the volume for current flow through the piezoresistors due to the creation of a depletion region surrounding the periphery of the gage resistors. Differences in the magnitude of the output voltage drift of the two sensor types are determined to be related to the unique construction of each sensor.

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Response of Piezoresistive MEMS Accelerometers and Pressure Transducers to High Gamma Dose

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