Design and Simulation of MEMS based Temperature Sensor for weather monitoring in a balloon Satellite: COMSOL Analysis

Micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) offer a promising avenue for the development of highly sensitive and miniaturized sensors for temperature measurement, vital for monitoring atmospheric conditions. The paper presents a micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) temperature sensor that has been designed using COMSOL Multiphysics 6.0 software for use in predicting atmospheric conditions in a balloon satellite at the stratosphere level at an altitude of 20km to 50km. Due to its versatility, the shape of this design employs a meander, and the sensor involves Heat Transfer in solids and Electric current modules. It can measure temperatures ranging from -200°C to 600°C. It clearly shows the variation of resistance with temperature. For this design, nickel material is used because of some advantages: high electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and mechanical strength, which help in withstanding harsh climate conditions in the stratosphere. This sensor works based on the principle of temperature dependence of resistance or Resistance temperature detector (RTD); that is, the resistance of the material increases or decreases based on temperature. The sensor is analyzed for the dimension of 6.7mmx4mm with an input voltage of 12mV and input current of 0.005A. The sensor seems to produce the linear variation of resistance with the temperature.