From Digital and Analogue Instrumentation: Testing and Measurement
14.2 The properties of silicon and their effects on sensors
Silicon is a suitable material for sensor technologies as it manifests sufficient physical and chemical effects of an acceptable strength for use in uncomplicated structures across a wide range of temperatures. Table 14.1 presents the most important effects and their applications for sensor technology.
| Physical dimension | Effect | Application |
|---|---|---|
| Radiation | Photoresistive | Photoresistor |
| Photointerface | Photodiode, phototransistor | |
| Ionisation | Nuclear radiation sensor | |
| Photocapacitive | Photocapacitance | |
| Mechanical | Piezoresistive, piezojunction and piezotunnel | Piezoresistive power and pressure sensors, piezoelectric diode and transistor |
| Thermal | Thermal resistance | Resistance temperature sensors |
| Thermojunction | Temperature sensors (diode, transistor) | |
| Thermoelectric | Thermopile | |
| Pyroelectric | Pyroelectric sensor | |
| Magnetic signals | Magnetoresistive | Magnetoresistive sensors |
| Hall | Hall generator | |
| Magnetic interface | Magnetic diode and transistor | |
| Chemical signals | Charge sensitive field | ISFET |
The use of silicon has a number of implications for sensors. Firstly, the physical properties of silicon can be used directly to measure the desired dimension, as indicated in Table 14.1. However, the range of possibilities is limited. Beyond this, for example, silicon can be extremely useful when used as the substrate for thin-film sensors, even when information processing electronics are integrated. For details see Reference 1.
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