• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.148-155
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• 2001

A pressure sensor on the tip of a catheter which is utilized to measure the in-vivo pressure in a human body was fabricated and the characteristic of the pressure sensor as measured. To fit into a catheter with 1 mm caliber, samples of $150\;{\mu}m$(thickness) ${\times}$ (600, 700, 800, 900, 1000) ${\mu}m$(width) ${\times}2\;mm$(length) was fabricated. The thicker face with $450\;{\mu}m$ thickness of SDB wafer was made thin to $134\;{\mu}m$ thickness using KOH etchant and it made possible to fabricate sensor cell with the width shorter than 1 mm. Different to the whitstone bridge sensor, we formed one piezoresistor and one reference resistor in sensor. Therefore there are possibilities of reduction of the sensitivity, then by using the simulation tool ANSYS 5.5.1, the location and the type of the piezoresistor was optimized. Another piezoresistor type of sensor which contain one longitudinal and one transverse piezoresistor was fabricated at the same time, but the sensitivity was not improved very much. To get the output versus the pressure, a constant current source and a implementation amplifier was used. As a result, the maximum sensitivity of the sensor with one piezoresistor was $1.6\;{\mu}V/V/mmHg$.