DocumentCode :
1433935
Title :
A Microelectrothermal Bridge Circuit With Complementary Parameter Estimation Algorithm for Direct Measurement of Thermal Conductivity
Author :
Stojanovic, Nenad ; Berg, Jordan M. ; Maithripala, D.H.S. ; Holtz, Mark W.
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Mech. Eng., Texas Tech Univ., Lubbock, TX, USA
Volume :
19
Issue :
2
fYear :
2010
fDate :
4/1/2010 12:00:00 AM
Firstpage :
265
Lastpage :
272
Abstract :
We describe a novel microelectrothermal test structure and a complementary data analysis algorithm for direct measurement of the thermal conductivity of metallic thin films and nanowires. The device is a thermal analog of an electrical bridge circuit, such as the Wheatstone bridge, as is commonly used to measure electrical impedance. The microelectrothermal bridge circuit addresses the problem of parasitic heat loss to supporting structures-a major obstacle to direct measurement of thermal properties. A nonlinear least-squares parameter extraction method developed specifically for the thermal bridge circuit further reduces the influence of unmodeled heat paths and accounts for complex sample geometry. Thus, accurate measurements may be made when fabrication of suspended structures is difficult or undesirable. The technique is demonstrated on arrays of aluminum nanowires on glass substrates, with excellent results. The Al nanowire experiments are also used to show the improved performance of the parameter extraction algorithm over a standard approach.
Keywords :
bridge circuits; circuit testing; metallic thin films; nanowires; parameter estimation; thermal conductivity measurement; Wheatstone bridge; aluminum nanowires; complementary data analysis algorithm; complementary parameter estimation algorithm; electrical bridge circuit; electrical impedance; glass substrates; metallic thin films; microelectrothermal bridge circuit; microelectrothermal test structure; nonlinear least squares parameter extraction algorithm; parasitic heat loss; thermal analog; thermal conductivity direct measurement; Bridge circuits; least-squares methods; microelectromechanical devices; nanowires; parameter estimation; thermal conductivity measurement; thermal variable measurement; thin films;
fLanguage :
English
Journal_Title :
Microelectromechanical Systems, Journal of
Publisher :
ieee
ISSN :
1057-7157
Type :
jour
DOI :
10.1109/JMEMS.2010.2041429
Filename :
5427006
Link To Document :
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