Simulation study of power loss components in a microheater

Microheaters have been employed in wide variety of applications. While designing microheaters for any specific application, it is necessary to identify the individual loss components because the total power consumption depends primarily on the significant part of loss mechanism. Proper design of a microheater that can perform efficiently over the entire operating region is of utmost importance. This paper identifies the individual components of heat loss mechanisms and their region of dominance with respect to the temperature spectrum. The convection loss mechanism has as much as 30% contribution of total heat losses. The nitride layer, which is used for providing the electrical insulation has resulted in an additional 56:6% of power demand for a heater operating at 620K. This is a significant power intake for any battery operated, hand held devices for a continuous monitoring applications such as gas sensors or air quality monitors.