A thermal-mechanical investigation for the optimization of silicon microheaters for gas sensing applications

Nowadays, the development of silicon microheaters as substrates for chemoresistive gas sensors are becoming crucial for the development of devices that meet market requirements. Indeed, the adoption of silicon microfabrication process allows for large scale production of cheap, small and low power microheaters. However, there is still a lack of in-depth investigation for the optimization of the microheater design, aiming at identifying the best trade-off in between low power consumption and mechanical stability of the device. In this work, a predictive thermal-mechanical model is proposed, based on heat transfer simulation, mechanical failure analysis and thermal characterization.