Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS) Photoacoustic (PA) Detector of Terahertz (THz) Radiation for Chemical Sensing

Abstract

In this research effort, a Microelectromechanical system (MEMS) cantilever pressure sensor was designed, modeled, and fabricated to investigate the photoacoustic (PA) response of gases to terahertz (THz) radiation under low vacuum conditions. Previous efforts in this project were improved upon, to include lowering resting out-of-plane curvature to improve sensitivity of devices. Dimensional analysis is taken into consideration and altered dimensions also serve to boost sensitivity while improving fragility of devices. All devices were fabricated on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers and tested in a custom designed THz vacuum chamber. Fabricated devices have a minimum normalized noise equivalent absorption (NNEA) coefficient of 4.28x10(-10), an improvement of 69% on prior 10micro devices.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 01, 2014
Accession Number
ADA598495

Entities

People

  • Richard A. Newberry

Organizations

  • Air Force Institute of Technology

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Advanced Electronics

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Absorption
  • Air Force
  • Air Force Research Laboratories
  • Chemistry
  • Coefficients
  • Detection
  • Detectors
  • Energy Bands
  • Fabrication
  • Geometry
  • Materials
  • Measurement
  • Microelectromechanical Systems
  • Micromachining
  • Radiation
  • Resonant Frequency
  • Terahertz Radiation

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Inertial Navigation Systems.
  • Quantum Dot Semiconductor Device Photonics and Graphene Optoelectronic Materials and THz Physics.
  • Structural Dynamics.

Technology Areas

  • Microelectronics
  • Microelectronics - Microelectromechanical Systems