ELECTROSTATIC ACTUATION AS A SELF-TESTING METHOD FOR SILICON PRESSURESENSORS

The aim of this work is to investigate the possibility of using electr ostatic forces to actuate the membrane of a pressure sensor in order t o create self-testing features in the system. It is shown that the ele ctrostatic pressure is small compared with the external pressure, unle ss large voltages or electrical charges are used. The interrelation be tween electrostatic forces and externally applied pressure is calculat ed for different electrical drive modes of the capacitor, in the case of a uniform membrane and for a MESA-type membrane.