A Novel 3-D Equivalent Circuit Model of Thermoelectric MEMS Microwave Power Sensors

In this work, a novel 3-D equivalent circuit model of thermoelectric microelectro-mechanical system (MEMS) microwave power sensor is proposed. According to the model, the 3-D temperature distribution and the response time of the thermoelectric MEMS microwave power sensor are obtained. The thermoelectric MEMS microwave power sensor is designed and fabricated based on GaAs monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) technology. The measured results show that the sensitivity of the sensor is 0.06 mV/mW at 10 GHz and the time constant is 85 μs. The theoretical results of the model show that the sensitivity is 0.076 mV/mW at 10 GHz and the time constant is 56.24 μs. The measured results are relatively consistent with the theoretical results. Furthermore, the heat dissipation in the substrate can be obtained accurately, and the transient response of the sensor can be further studied according to the 3-D equivalent circuit model. Therefore, this work has a certain reference value and guiding significance for the research of thermoelectric MEMS microwave power sensors.