INTEGRATED CONVERTER OF PRESSURE/VACUUM TO FREQUENCY BASED ON LTCC TECHNOLOGY

Stanislav Slosarčík - Wlodzimierz Kalita - Jerzy Potencki - Juraj Banský

   The idea of a pressure/vacuum to voltage or frequency integrated converter based on use of the low temperature cofired ceramics to create the hybrid functional specialized structure has been presented. The pressure/vacuum sensor is formed by a circular ceramic membrane on which the resistors of a bridge system are located. The idea of operation of the sensor is based on piezoresistive effect resulting from the strain of membrane under the influence of pressure or vacuum. The converter system includes: pressure/vacuum sensor, specialized integrated circuits for digital conversion of bridge output signal to standard voltage, instrumental amplifier, the voltage to frequency converter and a power supply circuit. Typical sensitivity of elaborated converter system is equal to 2 Hz/mbar or 2 mV/mbar.

Keywords: pressure sensor, hybrid microcircuits, LTCC ceramics

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