IMPLEMENTATION OF AN OPTICAL INTEGRATED PRESSURE SENSOR AND EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

摘要

The aim of this work is the implementation of an integrated optical pressure sensor based on Mach-Zehnder Interferometer (MZI), using a microfabricated membrane on silicon substrate. Previous works, developed by our research group, showed good results applying silicon oxide and silicon nitride thin films in the fabrication of waveguides and integrated optical sensors. To fabricate the integrated optical pressure sensor, the photolithography masks were designed, with waveguides, MZIs and diaphragms patterns. The dimensions were based in the simulation results of the optical devices (BBV software) and mechanical deformation analyses (ANSYS software). The sensor structures were implemented on silicon monocrystalline substrates, using conventional microelectronics processes (thermal oxidation, chemical vapor deposition (CVD), optical lithography, plasma etching and wet etching). The fabricated optical pressure sensor showed a non-linear relationship between the static pressure applied on the silicon diaphragm and the laser output intensity.