• DOI:10.1109/JMEMS.2018.2868776
• Corpus ID: 51683766

Flow Sensor Based on the Snap-Through Detection of a Curved Micromechanical Beam

@article{Kessler2018FlowSB,
  title={Flow Sensor Based on the Snap-Through Detection of a Curved Micromechanical Beam},
  author={Yoav Kessler and B. Robert Ilic and Slava Krylov and Alexander Liberzon},
  journal={Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems},
  year={2018},
  volume={27},
  pages={945-947}
}

• Y. Kessler, B. Ilic, +1 author Alexander Liberzon
• Published 14 June 2018
• Engineering
• Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems

We report on a flow velocity measurement technique based on snap-through detection of an electrostatically actuated, bistable micromechanical beam. We show that induced elecro-thermal Joule heating, and the convective air cooling change the beam curvature and consequently, the critical snap-through voltage (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$V_{\text {ST}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>). Using single crystal silicon beams, we demonstrate the snap-through voltage to flow velocity sensitivity of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$dV_{\text {ST}}/du \approx 0.13$ </tex-math></inline-formula> V s m⁻¹ with a power consumption of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\approx 360~\mu \text{W}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>. Our experimental results were in accord with the reduced order, coupled, thermo-electro-mechanical model prediction. We anticipate that electrostatically induced snap-through in curved, micromechanical beams will open new directions for the design and implementation of downscaled flow sensors for autonomous applications and environmental sensors. [2018-0131]