Suspended Membrane Single Crystal Silicon Micro Hotplate for Differential Scanning Calorimetry

This paper introduces an array of single crystal silicon micro hotplates for differential scanning calorimetry. Based on heat transfer analysis considering tradeoffs between response time, temperature uniformity, and measurement sensitivity, suspended membrane micro hotplates with full backside release were found to be optimal designs. Due to the requirements of routine sample loading, the size of the heater is 100 or 200 mum while the size of the backside membrane cavity is 400 mum. Our design achieves a combination of time constant, temperature sensitivity, and heating efficiency that are comparable or superior to previously reported microcalorimeters.