A CMOS Compatible MEMS Pirani Vacuum Gauge with Monocrystal Silicon Heaters and Heat Sinks

We present a micro-Pirani vacuum gauge using the low-resistivity monocrystal silicon as the heaters and heat sinks fabricated by the post complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) microelectromechanical system (MEMS) process. The metal interconnection of the device is fabricated by a 0.5 μm standard CMOS process on 8-inch silicon wafer. Then, a SiO_2–Si low-temperature fusion bonding is developed to bond the CMOS wafer and the MEMS wafer, with the electrical connection realized by the tungsten through silicon via process. Wafer-level AlGe eutectic bonding is adopted to package the Pirani gauge in a non-hermetic cavity to protect the gauge from being damaged or contaminated in the dicing and assembling process, and to make it suitable for actual applications. To increase the accuracy of the test and restrain negative influence of temperature drift, the Wheatstone bridge structure is introduced. The test results show that before capping, the gauge has an average sensitivity of 1.04\times10^4 K\cdotW^-1Torr^-1 in dynamic range of 0.01–20 Torr. After capping, the sensitivity of the gauge does not decrease but increases to 1.12\times10^4 K\cdotW^-1Torr^-1.