A 3D Model of the Thermoelectric Microwave Power Sensor by MEMS Technology

• Main Authors: Zhenxiang Yi, Xiaoping Liao
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2016-06-01
• Series: Sensors
• Subjects: 3D model; power sensor; thermoelectric; GaAs MMIC; micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) technology
• Online Access: http://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/16/6/921

In this paper, a novel 3D model is proposed to describe the temperature distribution of the thermoelectric microwave power sensor. In this 3D model, the heat flux density decreases from the upper surface to the lower surface of the GaAs substrate while it was supposed to be a constant in the 2D model. The power sensor is fabricated by a GaAs monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) process and micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) technology. The microwave performance experiment shows that the S11 is less than −26 dB over the frequency band of 1–10 GHz. The power response experiment demonstrates that the output voltage increases from 0 mV to 27 mV, while the incident power varies from 1 mW to 100 mW. The measured sensitivity is about 0.27 mV/mW, and the calculated result from the 3D model is 0.28 mV/mW. The relative error has been reduced from 7.5% of the 2D model to 3.7% of the 3D model.