Characterization of a silicon nanowire-based cantilever air-flow sensor

Silicon nanowire (SiNW)-based cantilever flow sensors with three different cantilever sizes (10 × 50, 20 × 90 and 40 × 100 µm2) and various SiNW lengths (2, 5 and 10 µm) have been designed for air velocity sensing. The total device thickness is around 3 µm, which consists of the bottom SiO2 layer (0.5 µm) and the top SiNx layer (2.5 µm). In addition, the SiNx layer is used to compensate the initial stress and also enhance the device immunity to air-flow-induced vibrations significantly. To experience the maximum strain induced by the air flow, SiNWs are embedded at the clamp point where the cantilever is anchored to the substrate. Taking advantage of the superior properties of SiNWs, the reported flow sensor shows outstanding air-flow-sensing capability in terms of sensitivity, linearity and hysteresis. With only a supply voltage of 0.1 V and the high initial resistance of the piezoresistive SiNWs, significant energy saving is reached in contrast to the thermal-based flow sensors as well as other recently reported piezoresistive designs. Last but not least, the significant size reduction of our device demonstrates the great scalability of SiNW-based flow sensors.

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