A Front-Side Microfabricated Thermoresistive Gas Flow Sensor for High-Performance, Low-Cost and High-Yield Volume Production

In this paper, we present a novel thermoresistive gas flow sensor with a high-yield and low-cost volume production by using front-side microfabricated technology. To best improve the thermal resistance, a micro-air-trench between the heater and the thermistors was opened to minimize the heat loss fr...

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Main Authors: Dan Xue, Jiachou Wang, Xinxin Li
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2020-02-01
Series:Micromachines
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2072-666X/11/2/205
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spelling doaj-e31b1bdebecd414e81468338f10618a72020-11-25T00:15:38ZengMDPI AGMicromachines2072-666X2020-02-0111220510.3390/mi11020205mi11020205A Front-Side Microfabricated Thermoresistive Gas Flow Sensor for High-Performance, Low-Cost and High-Yield Volume ProductionDan Xue0Jiachou Wang1Xinxin Li2State Key Laboratory of Transducer Technology, Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Transducer Technology, Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Transducer Technology, Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, ChinaIn this paper, we present a novel thermoresistive gas flow sensor with a high-yield and low-cost volume production by using front-side microfabricated technology. To best improve the thermal resistance, a micro-air-trench between the heater and the thermistors was opened to minimize the heat loss from the heater to the silicon substrate. Two types of gas flow sensors were designed with the optimal thermal-insulation configuration and fabricated by a single-wafer-based single-side process in (111) wafers, where the type A sensor has two thermistors while the type B sensor has four. Chip dimensions of both sensors are as small as 0.7 mm × 0.7 mm and the sensors achieve a short response time of 1.5 ms. Furthermore, without using any amplification, the normalized sensitivity of type A and type B sensors is 1.9 mV/(SLM)/mW and 3.9 mV/(SLM)/mW for nitrogen gas flow and the minimum detectable flow rate is estimated at about 0.53 and 0.26 standard cubic centimeter per minute (sccm), respectively.https://www.mdpi.com/2072-666X/11/2/205gas flow sensorsingle-side bulk micromachiningultrahigh sensitivity
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Dan Xue
Jiachou Wang
Xinxin Li
spellingShingle Dan Xue
Jiachou Wang
Xinxin Li
A Front-Side Microfabricated Thermoresistive Gas Flow Sensor for High-Performance, Low-Cost and High-Yield Volume Production
Micromachines
gas flow sensor
single-side bulk micromachining
ultrahigh sensitivity
author_facet Dan Xue
Jiachou Wang
Xinxin Li
author_sort Dan Xue
title A Front-Side Microfabricated Thermoresistive Gas Flow Sensor for High-Performance, Low-Cost and High-Yield Volume Production
title_short A Front-Side Microfabricated Thermoresistive Gas Flow Sensor for High-Performance, Low-Cost and High-Yield Volume Production
title_full A Front-Side Microfabricated Thermoresistive Gas Flow Sensor for High-Performance, Low-Cost and High-Yield Volume Production
title_fullStr A Front-Side Microfabricated Thermoresistive Gas Flow Sensor for High-Performance, Low-Cost and High-Yield Volume Production
title_full_unstemmed A Front-Side Microfabricated Thermoresistive Gas Flow Sensor for High-Performance, Low-Cost and High-Yield Volume Production
title_sort front-side microfabricated thermoresistive gas flow sensor for high-performance, low-cost and high-yield volume production
publisher MDPI AG
series Micromachines
issn 2072-666X
publishDate 2020-02-01
description In this paper, we present a novel thermoresistive gas flow sensor with a high-yield and low-cost volume production by using front-side microfabricated technology. To best improve the thermal resistance, a micro-air-trench between the heater and the thermistors was opened to minimize the heat loss from the heater to the silicon substrate. Two types of gas flow sensors were designed with the optimal thermal-insulation configuration and fabricated by a single-wafer-based single-side process in (111) wafers, where the type A sensor has two thermistors while the type B sensor has four. Chip dimensions of both sensors are as small as 0.7 mm × 0.7 mm and the sensors achieve a short response time of 1.5 ms. Furthermore, without using any amplification, the normalized sensitivity of type A and type B sensors is 1.9 mV/(SLM)/mW and 3.9 mV/(SLM)/mW for nitrogen gas flow and the minimum detectable flow rate is estimated at about 0.53 and 0.26 standard cubic centimeter per minute (sccm), respectively.
topic gas flow sensor
single-side bulk micromachining
ultrahigh sensitivity
url https://www.mdpi.com/2072-666X/11/2/205
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