Cousseau P., Dubochet O., Lerch Ph., Renaud Ph.
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, CH
Keywords: plastic, thermal gas flow sensor
This paper presents a comparison of three different designs for a miniature gas flow sensor operating on the thermal transfer principle, the standard silicon nitride membrane device and two plastic designs. The goal of this work is to determine the performance change when the conventional thin silicon nitride membrane is replaced with a thicker but less thermally conductive plastic substrate. The finite element method was used to determine the thermal behavior of the three different designs. Results comparing the temperature difference between the up and down stream sensing wires as a function of flow rate are presented.
Journal: TechConnect Briefs
Volume: Technical Proceedings of the 2000 International Conference on Modeling and Simulation of Microsystems
Published: March 27, 2000
Pages: 594 - 597
Industry sector: Sensors, MEMS, Electronics
Topics: Micro & Bio Fluidics, Lab-on-Chip, Modeling & Simulation of Microsystems
ISBN: 0-9666135-7-0