Highly Responsive Metal Oxide (V₂O₅)-Based NEMS Pirani Gauge for <i>In-Situ</i> Hermeticity Monitoring

Abstract

The letter reports highly sensitive metal oxide (V <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> O <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">5</sub> ) based NanoElectromechanical Systems (NEMS) Pirani gauge for pressure monitoring of a packaged device. The absence of additional supplementary material in the sensing element increases the sensing area and enables the in-situ monitoring capability. Considering the feasibility of the idea, the design is simulated and verified with the experimental results of the fabricated device. The device shows a sensitivity of 5.76 % per decade-Pa in the working range from 4 Pa to 2.7×10 <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sup> Pa. The maximum average temperature of the sensing element is 48 °C at 4 Pa. It ensures corrosion-free operation and increases the lifetime of the device. The computed thermal response time of the device is ~500 ms at a power consumption of 285μW. [2020-0335]