Small microhotplate

Fig. 6.9. Micrograph of the small microhotplate with a polysUicon temperature sensor...

During the last years, so-called microhotplates (pHP) have been developed in order to shrink the overall dimensions and to reduce the thermal mass of metal-oxide gas sensors [7,9,15]. Microhotplates consist of a thermally isolated stage with a heater structure, a temperature sensor and a set of contact electrodes for the sensitive layer. By using such microstructures, high operation temperatures can be reached at comparably low power consumption (< 100 mW). Moreover, small time constants on the order of 10 ms enable applying temperature modulation techniques with the aim to improve sensor selectivity and sensitivity. 

The thermal resistance will be temperature-dependent as canbe seen in Eq. (3.24), which is not only a consequence of the temperature dependence of the thermal heat conduction coefficients. The measured membrane temperature, Tm, is related to the location of the temperature sensor, so that the temperature distribution across the heated area will also influence the thermal resistance value. The nonlinearity in Eq. (3.24) is, nevertheless, small. The expression thermal resistance consequently often refers to the coefficient t]o only, which is used as a figure of merit and corresponds, according to Eqs. (3.24) and (3.25), to the thermal resistance or thermal efficiency of the microhotplate at ambient temperature, Tq. The temperature Tm can be determined from simulations with distinct heating powers. The thermal resistance then can be extracted from these data. 

In conclusion, a simple KOH-etching process without ECE is applicable for future microhotplate designs, although the best temperature homogeneity is achieved with the silicon island heat spreader. The island remains an important design feature, especially for the use of thin-film sensitive layers, where the additional heat spreading effect of the sensor materials is small. 

The microsystems may also serve potential applications in material science and in the growing field of nanotechnology. Microhotplates can be used for material processing, and, at the same time, for the monitoring of material properties such as the electrical resistance [10]. Moreover, the microsystems can be applied to determine thermal properties of new materials such as the melting point, especially when only small quantities of material are available [145], so that monolithic microhotplate-based devices are not only powerful sensor systems for a broad range of applications, but also new research tools for sensor science and nanotechnology. 

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