Michael Tikhomirov

In the US, the development of silicon-based piezo resistive sensors began in the early 1960s. In 1961, Pfann and Thurston proposed integrating diffusion piezoresistive elements with silicon elements. [Pfann WG, Thurston RN. Semiconducting stress transducers utilizing the transverse and shear piezoresistance effects. J Appl Phys. 1961;32:2008-2019]; [Tufte ON, Chapman PW, Long D. Silicon diffused-element piezoresistive diaphragms. J Appl Phys. 1962;33:3322-3327]. After it became known that NASA was working in this field, in the early 1970s, the Ministry of General Machine Building made a decision, and research and development work also began in the USSR. This article presents some of the publicly available scientific materials from the candidate’s dissertation “Silicon integrated sensors of mechanical quantities for control, monitoring, and regulation systems for a temperature range of 0÷300°C.” In 1989, the author was awarded the degree of Candidate of Technical Sciences. The leading organization, NPO Energomash (Khimki, Moscow Region), gave a positive conclusion. Based on this work, total pressure and low-frequency acceleration sensors were created that meet the requirements and operating conditions for model testing of modern and promising rocket engines. The effectiveness and great practical significance of the work have been confirmed by the results of its implementation in the experimental design work of organizations of the Ministry of General Machine Building.

Keywords: semiconductor measuring transducers, piezoresistive effect in p-type silicon, piezoresistive transducer, MEMS, silicon sensor, piezoresistive pressure sensors.

*E-mail: m@tikhomirows.space