Abstract: A capacitive physical load sensor includes a substrate, which has fixed electrodes, and a diaphragm, which has movable electrodes. The diaphragm is located across a gap from the substrate, and retaining parts for the diaphragm are formed around the diaphragm. Protruding parts extend into the gap from the diaphragm or from the substrate. The protruding parts support the diaphragm at different levels of deformation to alter the characteristics of the diaphragm and extend its range.

Abstract: In a semiconductor strain detector, the temperature characteristic of the output of a zero-point temperature compensating circuit is added to the zero-point temperature characteristic of the output of a bridge circuit composed of strain gauges, to perform a zero-point temperature compensation of the final output. Further, two kinds of diffusion resistors having different surface impurity densities are used in each amplifying circuit to perform a sensitivity-temperature compensation in which a temperature coefficient of sensitivity is considered up to the second-order term.