| The feasibility of micromachined Fabry-Perot cavity based sensors have been studied and demonstrated for pressure measurement, due to their possible high sensitivity, high response frequency and their immunity to electromagnetic interference. In practice, however, fabrication of Fabry-Perot sensors with high quality cavities in a highly repeatable fashion is always a critical issue. The physical design of absolute and differential pressure sensors is presented. The two reflecting surface are not identical. One of them is (100) silicon and the other is glass. Sensor parameters, such as cavity diameter, depth and diaphragm thickness have been calculated and analyzed. Detailed fabrication procedure is given. The circular cavity is patterned and etched on a double side polished glass wafer to a predetermined depth, depending on the center wavelength to be used in the measurement. By using an electrostatic bonding technique, a silicon wafer will be bonded onto the glass over the cavity. The diaphragm can be obtained either by etching the unbonded side of the silicon wafer, while the other side of the Si/glass assembly is protected, or by using ultrathin silicon wafer which is prethinned and polished before electrostatic bonding. The thickness of the diaphragm can be controlled by timed etching techniques. The individual sensors and linear sensor arrays have been fabricated in University of Cincinnati and tested both at Air Force Research Lab and Wright State University. |
