The Fabrication of Micro-Heaters with Low-Power Consumption Using SOI and Trench Structures

This paper presents optimized design, fabrication and thermal characteristics of micro-heaters for thermal MEMS (micro electro mechanical system) applications using SOI and trench structures. The micro-heaters are based on a thermal measurement principle and contains thermal isolation regions of 10 ${\mu}m$-thick Si membranes consisting of oxide-filled trenches in the SOI membrane rim. The micro-heaters were fabricated with Pt-RTD on the same substrate via MgO buff layer between Pt thin-film and $SiO_2$ layer. The thermal characteristics of micro-heater with trench-free SOI membrane structure was $280^{\circ}C$ at input power 0.9 W; in the presence of 10 trenches, it was $580^{\circ}C$ due to reduction of the external thermal loss. Therefore, a micro-heater with trenches in SOI membrane rim structure provides a powerful and versatile alternative technology for enhancing the performance of micro-thermal sensors and actuators.