A 4??4 Tin Oxide Gas Sensor Array with Surface Micro-machined Convex Micro-hotplates

The paper describes a fabrication process for convex micro-hotplates (MHPs) using surface micro-machining technology. Surface micro-machining provides simplified process and CMOS compatibility over buck microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). The low yield of the latter limits the dimension of the fabricated array while limited sacrificial layer thickness in the former leads to higher power consumption. In this work, 700degC-950degC annealing process was carried out on the 190 times 190 mum² MHP with 2.8 mum polysilicon sacrificial layer. Higher temperature leads to lower tensional stress of the membrane and larger curvature of the released MHP, which further causes higher thermal efficiency. The 950degC annealed MHP has the largest curvature of 2.438 cm^-1 and the highest thermal efficiency of 12.76degC/mW. The proposed process is used to fabricate a 4times4 tin oxide gas sensor array. Experimental result on the response of the sensor array to ethanol gas is also illustrated in this paper.