Modeling and Simulation of Thermally Actuated MEMS Resonators for Gas Sensing Applications

摘要

In this paper, we present the mathematical modeling and simulation of a Micro Electromechanical Systems (MEMS) resonator with an embedded microheater for gas sensing applications using CoventorWare. The microheater is designed to achieve sufficient temperature uniformity to actuate the resonator. Modelling and simulation of the resonator are performed by varying the input voltage of the microheater as well as the width of the supporting beams of the resonator. The theoretical operating temperature of the resonator is found to increase from 325.19 to 714.66 K at different voltages depending on the width variations. On the other hand, simulation results are found to increase from 327.74 to 735.06 K. The theoretical values correspond very well to the simulation values with insignificant average differences for every width variation ranging from 0.44% to 4.43%. Results have also shown that temperature across the resonator plate is well-distributed; temperature differences across the plate at input voltage 1.5 V range from 0.0059 K/μm to 0.0083 K/μm. The temperature distribution is also symmetrical with percentage differences less than 0.05% from edge to edge of the resonator indicating good temperature uniformity throughout the resonator.