Effects of gamma radiation on suspended silicon nanogauges bridge used for MEMS transduction

Abstract This paper proposes a study on the resilience to radiation of MEMS sensors based on piezoresistive transduction by means of suspended silicon nanogauges. It is particularly interesting for applications in severe environment like in space or in nuclear plant. This work shows that the resistivity of a single nanogauge exhibits a sensitivity of 16.5 ppm/kGy whereas the silicon nanogauges bridge used for MEMS transduction is immune to radiation with a variation of −4 ppm/h, like in normal operation. It is the consequence of the differential measurement at the terminals of the two nanogauges that enables to cancel radiation effects.