A Review of Radiation Hardening of Aerospace-Grade Silicon-Based Piezoresistive MEMS Pressure Sensors

Performance degradation induced by the space radiation environment is the core bottleneck restricting the long-lifetime of aerospace-grade silicon-based piezoresistive MEMS pressure sensors. This paper provides a comprehensive review of recent research progress in radiation-hardening technologies for such sensors. First, the review systematically summarizes the degradation phenomena of bulk silicon piezoresistive pressure sensors under radiation exposure. It then analyzes the underlying microscopic origins and physical mechanisms, including total ionizing dose (TID), displacement damage (DD), and single event effect (SEE). On this basis, the current research progress of radiation-hardening technologies is summarized from multiple aspects: intrinsic material reinforcement, piezoresistor structural optimization, pre-irradiation treatment, packaging protection, radiation-hardened circuitry, and integrated radiation dosimeters. Furthermore, this paper discusses emerging directions such as two-dimensional semiconductors (e.g., MoS2) and adaptive compensation. It concludes that although their synergistic integration holds great promise for future highly reliable pressure measurements in aerospace applications, further system-level validation is still required.