Low cost CO_2 gas sensors for demand-controlled ventilation can lower the energy consumption and increase comfort and hence productivity in office buildings and schools. The photo acoustic principle offers very high sensitivity and selectivity when used for gas trace analysis. Current systems are too expensive and large for in-duct mounting. Here, the design, modeling, fabrication and characterization of two micromachined silicon microphones with piezoresistive readout designed for low cost photo acoustic gas sensors are presented. The microphones have been fabricated using a foundry MPW service. One of the microphones has been fabricated using an additional etching step that allows etching through membranes with large variations in thickness. To increase sensitivity and resolution, a design based on a released membrane suspended by four beams was chosen. The microphones have been characterized for frequencies up to 1 kHz and 100 Hz, respectively. Averaged sensitivities are measured to be 30 μV/(V × Pa) and 400 μV/(V × Pa). The presented microphones offer increased sensitivities compared to similar sensors.
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