A novel measuring systems for the metrological characterization of piezoresistive films at high temperature

In different industrial applications, such as injection molding and/or hot rolling, it is necessary to measure pressure in critical environmental conditions at high temperature. A promising approach for high temperature applications is the use of a wide band gap semiconductor such as silicon carbide (SiC). The excellent electrical and mechanical properties as temperature far beyond 350°C make it a suitable material for electromechanical sensors in high temperature application. The purpose of this work was to investigate the possibility of developing a testing structure to evaluate the longitudinal and transverse guage factors (GFL and GFT) in piezoresistive films in SiC, to evaluate the TCR and finally to define the temperature effect up to 400°C. In the following paper a tailored test structure has been presented together with the preliminary results obtained from piezoeristors realized in SiC technology. The solution proposed assures the most accurate measurement of the parameters of the film without any undesirable influence.