Influence of polycrystalline silicon as electrical shield on reliability and stability of piezoresistive sensors

Abstract In this paper, the influence of polycrystalline silicon as a protective field shield on the reliability and stability of piezoresistive silicon sensors is investigated. For this purpose, the behaviour of piezoresistive sensors with and without polycrystalline silicon shield is observed under changes of environmental condition, such as relative humidity and temperature. The obtained sensor-offset change under humidity stimulation is smaller than that observed by temperature excitation. The samples with polycrystalline silicon shield exhibit a lower humidity and temperature coefficients as compared to the samples without this shield. The values of uncertainties in measurement are evaluated according to the ISO “Guide to the Expression of Uncertainties in Measurement” (GUM). The uncertainty contribution caused by internal disturbing of the sensors can be neglected. Comparing two types of piezoresistive sensors investigated, the samples with polycrystalline silicon shield produce a considerably reduction of all measurement uncertainty contributions. The results show that an additional polycrystalline silicon shield between two insulating layers connected to the supply voltage, which provides a determined potential distribution inside the passivation layer stack, improves the device reliability and the accuracy of measurement.