Low cost solid state pressure sensor elements have attracted a great deal of attention lately. Although for the bulk of applica­tions it is more economical to use a device which is calibrated by the sensor manufacture, for some very high volume OEM applications a basic sensor element, such as the CCT-4 and CCT-6 can be used. It is when using these uncompensated elements that one needs to be able to understand the various methods for span temperature compensation.
A misconception existing today among many engineers is that the basic piezoresistive pressure sensor elements come in two types-constant voltage and constant current. Although the basic sensor elements are often referred to as either constant current or constant voltage driver sensors, what is really being referred to is the method of span temperature compensation utilized. The two basic methods of compensation for the sensors inherent decrease in sensitivity over temperature are: