2-D Micromachined Thermal Wind Sensors—A Review

This paper presents an overview and development of 2-D micromachined thermal wind sensors. It first compares different types of wind sensors, then gives a brief introduction to three basic measurement principles of the thermal wind sensors: hot-wire or hot-film, calorimetric, and time of flight. In order to have a good understanding of development of the 2-D micromachined thermal wind sensors, they are first categorized into thermoresistive, thermoelectric, and thermoelectronic wind sensors based on their operations. Then, each category is further divided into different subcategories, according to their measuring principles and sensor configurations. In Section IV, different materials, fabrication processes, packaging techniques, and control modes of the 2-D micromachined thermal wind sensors are analyzed. This paper also evaluates the core technologies on how to improve the sensitivity, measurement range, and power consumption of the thermal wind sensors.