Abstract
Vacuum gauges based on Micro-Electro-Mechanical System (MEMS) technology have the advantages of small size, high reliability, and low cost, so they are widely used in semiconductor, chemical, laboratory, and aerospace. In this paper, a high-reliability MEMS Pirani vacuum gauge based on a porous silicon platform is designed, fabricated, and characterized. The repeatability within 4~10(5) Pa has been tested. The porous silicon acting as a support material achieved a porosity of 68% and a thermal conductivity of 3.5 W/(m·K), and the surface morphology of the porous silicon is smooth. The proposed MEMS Pirani vacuum gauge containing no suspended thin-film structures has good mechanical stability and is unaffected by mechanical shock and vibration in operation.