Powerful tools for thermal characterisation of MEMS

Thermal aspects of design and fabrication of sensor structures based on thermally isolated heater filaments [Cs. Dücső, et al., Porous Si bulk micro-machining for thermally isolated membrane formation, Sens. Actuators A 60 (1997) 235–243 [1]] were investigated with special attention to their dynamic properties in order to demonstrate the outstanding possibilities of modelling and characterisation tools in analysis MEMS structures. Thermal engineering was aided by high performance simulation methods, such as finite element modelling (COSMOS) and thermal equivalent circuit simulation using successive network reduction method (SUNRED). The detailed static and dynamic thermal behaviour of the structure was experimentally characterised by applying the high resolution thermography system of the Thermosensorik GmbH and thermal transient tester (T3Ster) of the MicReD Ltd.