Title :
Numerical modeling of a micromachined thermal conductivity gas pressure sensor
Author :
Allegretto, W. ; Shen, Bing ; Haswell, P. ; Lai, Zhongsheng ; Robinson, A.M.
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Math., Alberta Univ., Edmonton, Alta., Canada
fDate :
10/1/1994 12:00:00 AM
Abstract :
We have developed a software package that simulates the operation of a silicon micromachined CMOS thermal conductivity gas pressure gauge. The performance of actual devices was compared against the simulated operation and was found to be in good agreement. The 3-dimensional simulation was reduced to two 2-dimensional simulations to reduce complexity. The two equations resulting from steady state energy balance considerations were discretized and an iterative nonlinear Gauss-Seidel procedure applied to solve the system of equations. Temperature profiles and contours were calculated and the effect of geometric and materials modifications was demonstrated
Keywords :
digital simulation; electric sensing devices; electronic engineering computing; elemental semiconductors; gas sensors; insulated gate field effect transistors; iterative methods; pressure sensors; semiconductor device models; silicon; CMOS; Si; Si devices; gas pressure sensor; iterative nonlinear Gauss-Seidel procedure; materials modifications; micromachined devices; software package; steady state energy balance considerations; temperature profiles; thermal conductivity; two-dimensional simulations; Gaussian processes; Nonlinear equations; Numerical models; Pressure gauges; Semiconductor device modeling; Silicon; Software packages; Steady-state; Temperature; Thermal conductivity;
Journal_Title :
Computer-Aided Design of Integrated Circuits and Systems, IEEE Transactions on
