Feasibility Study: Sapphire Membranes for Pressure Sensors

• Research unit: INNOSUISSE
• Project number: 7296.1;2 EPRP-IW

Short description (English)

Feasibility Study: Sapphire Membranes for Pressure Sensors

Abstract (English)

Inficon AG initiated the feasibility study ¿ Sapphire Membranes for Pressure Sensors - to evaluate novel band drawn sapphire membranes for future pressure sensor applications. The current pressure sensor design uses Al2O3 membranes. Inficon encounters handicaps concerning production yield, contamination resistance and universality with respect to the measurement range, due to geometrical limitation in thin Al2O3 membrane manufacturing. The expected benefits of sapphire are manifold. To investigate the physical performance of such membranes, various aspects of material and membrane structure have to be studied. The objective of the current project therefore is an extensive study and test of the applicability of sapphire membranes for pressure sensor applications.