Self-heating in piezoresistive cantilevers

Abstract

We report experiments and models of self-heating in piezoresistive microcantilevers that show how cantilever measurement resolution depends on the thermal properties of the surrounding fluid. The predicted cantilever temperature rise from a finite difference model is compared with detailed temperature measurements on fabricated devices. Increasing the fluid thermal conductivity allows for lower temperature operation for a given power dissipation, leading to lower force and displacement noise. The force noise in air is 76% greater than in water for the same increase in piezoresistor temperature.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
May 30, 2011
Source ID
10.1063/1.3595485

Entities

People

  • Beth L. Pruitt
  • Elise A. Corbin
  • Joseph C. Doll
  • William P King

Organizations

  • Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
  • National Institutes of Health
  • National Science Foundation
  • Stanford University
  • University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign

Tags

Readers

  • Nanofabrication and Microfabrication.
  • Nanoscale Plasmonic Nanotechnology
  • Thermal Physics or Thermal Science.