Local stresses effect on micro-machined silicon diaphragm on zinc oxide nanowires piezoelectric sensors

The electrical properties of nanostructured piezoelectric materials have attracted the attention of many researchers in the last decade. These features are used in piezoelectric micro-sensors. Mechanical propulsion is usually the result of contact between a piezoelectric surface and a foreign object. In this paper, the effect of mechanical propulsion using an air wave (sound) or vacuum on a silicon diaphragm is investigated. The local stresses created on the diaphragm due to the impact of an air wave have a significant effect on the peak-to-peak voltage of the piezoelectric sensor, which can be measured by measuring changes in this parameter. To investigate this, a micromachined diaphragm of silicon was examined and it was found that fabricating a piezoelectric sensor on a thin and patterned diaphragm could increase the peak-to-peak voltage by about 1.3 times. Detection of these stresses using piezoelectric material layered on the thin and formable diaphragm can act as a piezoelectric microphone or a barometer that the presence of microstructures on the diaphragm will increase their sensitivity.