Electrostatic actuation as a self-testing method for silicon pressure sensors

The aim of this work is to investigate the possibility of using electrostatic forces to actuate the membrane of a pressure sensor in order to create self-testing features in the system. It is shown that the electrostatic pressure is small compared with the external pressure, unless large voltages or electrical charges are used. The interrelation between electrostatic forces and externally applied pressure is calculated for different electrical drive modes of the capacitor, in the case of a uniform membrane and for a MESA-type membrane.