Impact of Fluid Flow on CMOS-MEMS Resonators Oriented to Gas Sensing

Based on experimental data, this paper thoroughly investigates the impact of a gas fluid flow on the behavior of a MEMS resonator specifically oriented to gas sensing. It is demonstrated that the gas stream action itself modifies the device resonance frequency in a way that depends on the resonator...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) Switzerland), 2020-08, Vol.20 (17), p.4663
Main Authors: Perello-Roig, Rafel, Verd, Jaume, Bota, Sebastià, Segura, Jaume
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aluminum composites
Anchors
Batch production
Clamps
CMOS
CMOS-MEMS
Design
Flexing
Fluid dynamics
Fluid flow
Gas flow
Gas sensors
Gas streams
Gravimetry
MEMS resonators
Microelectromechanical systems
Resonators
Reynolds number
Sensors
temperature sensitivity
Ultrasonic transducers
VOCs
Volatile organic compounds
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Summary:Based on experimental data, this paper thoroughly investigates the impact of a gas fluid flow on the behavior of a MEMS resonator specifically oriented to gas sensing. It is demonstrated that the gas stream action itself modifies the device resonance frequency in a way that depends on the resonator clamp shape with a corresponding non-negligible impact on the gravimetric sensor resolution. Results indicate that such an effect must be accounted when designing MEMS resonators with potential applications in the detection of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). In addition, the impact of thermal perturbations was also investigated. Two types of four-anchored CMOS-MEMS plate resonators were designed and fabricated: one with straight anchors, while the other was sustained through folded flexure clamps. The mechanical structures were monolithically integrated together with an embedded readout amplifier to operate as a self-sustained fully integrated oscillator on a commercial CMOS technology, featuring low-cost batch production and easy integration. The folded flexure anchor resonator provided a flow impact reduction of 5× compared to the straight anchor resonator, while the temperature sensitivity was enhanced to −115 ppm/°C, an outstanding result compared to the −2403 ppm/°C measured for the straight anchored structure.
ISSN:1424-8220
1424-8220
DOI:10.3390/s20174663