Sensors & Transducers Journal

    (ISSN 1726- 5479)

Special Issue, October 2007, pp. 101-110

Design and Characterization of MEMS Thermal Converter

Jiri JAKOVENKO, Miroslav HUSAK, ^*Tibor LALINSKY

Department of Microelectronics, Czech Technical University in Prague,

Technicka 2, 166 27, Prague 6, Czech Republic

^* Institute of Electrical Engineering, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia

E-mail: jakovenk@feld.cvut.cz, http://www.micro.feld.cvut.cz

Received: 17 September 2007   /Accepted: 19 September 2007   /Published: 8 October 2007

Abstract: This paper presents design and characterization of a new GaAs based RF Microwave Power Sensor (RFMPS) microsystem. The main criteria for the RFMPS optimization are to keep the stable thermal distribution and minimize the thermal stress. The concept of absorbed power measurement is based on thermal conversion, where absorbed RF power is transformed into thermal power, inside a thermally isolated system. The Micromechanical Thermal Converter (MTC) spatial temperature dependences, thermal time constant and power to temperature characteristics are calculated from the heat distribution. The temperature changes induced in the MTC by electrical power dissipated in the HEMT (High Electron Mobility Transistor) are sensed by the integrated temperature sensor (TS). The temperature distribution over the sensing area and mechanical stress was optimized by studying different MTC sizes, and topologies of the active HEMT heater and temperature sensor.

Keywords: MEMS thermal converter, Thermo-mechanical simulation, GaAs power sensor

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