This paper describes a micromachined pressure sensor that senses pressure not by a diaphragm structure but by a resonantly vibrating comb-drive actuator. The electrical admittance of the comb-drive actuator was directly measured using a lock-in amplifier, and its pressure dependence was examined. From the experiment, it was found that the resonant frequency of the comb-drive actuator gradually drops as the pressure increases. The sensitivity of the comb-drive actuator as a pressure sensor was 0.34 Hz/MPa at atmospheric pressure and 0.1 Hz/MPa at 0.4 MPa absolute pressure.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.