Design and Fabrication of Bulk Micromachined 4H-SiC Piezoresistive Pressure Chips Based on Femtosecond Laser Technology

Silicon carbide (SiC) has promising potential for pressure sensing in a high temperature and harsh environment due to its outstanding material properties. In this work, a 4H-SiC piezoresistive pressure chip fabricated based on femtosecond laser technology was proposed. A 1030 nm, 200 fs Yb: KGW lase...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Lukang Wang, You Zhao, Yulong Zhao, Yu Yang, Taobo Gong, Le Hao, Wei Ren
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2021-01-01
Series:Micromachines
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2072-666X/12/1/56
Description
Summary:Silicon carbide (SiC) has promising potential for pressure sensing in a high temperature and harsh environment due to its outstanding material properties. In this work, a 4H-SiC piezoresistive pressure chip fabricated based on femtosecond laser technology was proposed. A 1030 nm, 200 fs Yb: KGW laser with laser average powers of 1.5, 3 and 5 W was used to drill blind micro holes for achieving circular sensor diaphragms. An accurate per lap feed of 16.2 μm was obtained under laser average power of 1.5 W. After serialized laser processing, the machining depth error of no more than 2% and the surface roughness as low as 153 nm of the blind hole were measured. The homoepitaxial piezoresistors with a doping concentration of 10<sup>19</sup> cm<sup>−3</sup> were connected by a closed-loop Wheatstone bridge after a rapid thermal annealing process, with a specific contact resistivity of 9.7 × 10<sup>−5</sup> Ω cm<sup>2</sup>. Our research paved the way for the integration of femtosecond laser micromachining and SiC pressure sensor chips manufacturing.
ISSN:2072-666X