Temperature and Doping Dependency of Piezoresistivity in p-type Silicon

Abstract

We have performed new measurements of the temperature and doping dependency of the piezoresistive effect in p-type silicon. Piezoresistivity is one of the most common sensing principles of micro-electro-mechanical-systems (MEMS). Our measurements are performed in a specially designed setup based on the well-known 4 point bending technique. The samples are beams of full wafer thickness. To minimize leakage currents and to obtain uniform doping profiles, we have used SIMOX (Separation by IMplantation of OXygen) substrates with resistors defined in an epitaxial layer. Spreading resistance measurements show that the doping profiles are uniform with depth, while measurements of leakage current versus temperature indicate low leakage current. In this paper we present results for the doping concentration range from 1×1017 – 1×1020 cm−3 and the temperature range from –30 to 150 degrees Celsius. The results show a doping dependency of piezoresistivity well described by the current models. The measurements of the temperature dependency of the coefficients of piezoresistivity are compared to a linear model with a negative temperature coefficient whose absolute value decreases with increasing doping.

Design and construction of a four-point bending based set-up for measurement of piezoresistance in semiconductors

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