Micro-hydraulic structure for high performance bio-mimetic air flow sensor arrays

Here we introduce a novel micro-hydraulic structure that can significantly improve performance of many MEMS devices. Using this structure we fabricate and test a new type of low-power, accurate and robust flow sensor in which a hair-like appendage is used to translate flow into hydraulic pressure. This pressure is hydraulically amplified and sensed with a capacitance that is integrated with the micro-hydraulic system. The air flow sensor can detect flow speeds ranging from zero to 10 m.s^-1 with a resolution of 1 cm.s^-1 in the low flow regime and a predicted minimum detectable flow of 3 mm.s^-1.