Electrostatically actuated all metal MEMS Pirani gauge with tunable dynamic range

An electrostatically actuated all-metal microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) Pirani gauge with a tunable dynamic range is proposed. Contrary to the conventional fixed gap Pirani gauges, an electrostatic mechanism is employed to tune the gaseous conduction gap. Due to the electrostatic force between the heating element and heat sink, this tuning results in shifting the transition pressure to a higher pressure. As a result, the operating range of the Pirani gauge can be tuned depending on the magnitude of the actuation voltage. Theoretical estimation of the transition pressure corresponding to different gaseous conduction gaps is also presented. Depending on the available margin of gap tuning, the electromechanical and electrothermal analyses are carried out in COMSOL Multiphysics. The analytical approach is validated by experimentally characterizing the fabricated device. The experimentally tested device with the proposed actuation mechanism shows an 11.2 dB increase in dynamic range in comparison to the conventional design. In a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS)-compatible fabrication process flow, the proposed gauge can be used to monitor vacuum from 40 Pa to 5 x 105 Pa with the electrostatic actuation.