Title:Thermal Properties of a Thin-Film Membrane Embedded in a Multiparameter Wind Sensor - On-Device Characterization Utilizing a Transient Measurement ApproachAuthor(s):Roman Beigelbeck, Samir Cerimovic, D. Reyes-Romero, F. Kohl, Thomas Voglhuber-Brunnmaier, Bernhard Jakoby, Thilo Sauter, G.A. UrbanAbstract:We present a novel transient measurement method to characterize effective values of the thermal conductivity, thermal diffusivity, and emissivity of a thin-film membrane implemented in a MEMS multiparameter wind sensor. Accurate values for these parameters are mandatory as they considerably influence the thermal heat shunt induced by the membrane, which is the main limiting factor for reliable sensor operation in gases with low thermal admittance and thus determines the ultimate device sensitivity. Compared to commonly used measurement techniques for these thermal thin-film parameters, our method does not require custom-built specimens, i. e., the results can directly be obtained from transient excess temperature measurements on the wind sensor device by utilizing the embedded thin-film heater and thermistors. The presented method as such is universal and can easily be applied to other configurations of heating and temperature sensing elements placed on a circular thinfilm membrane. In this contribution, we describe the theoretical background of this method, provide an efficient semi-analytical model for the data evaluation including its validation by computer numerical simulations, and showcase sample measurements on multilayer SixNy-SiO2 thin films.Journal:IEEE Sensors JournalISSN:1530-437XPage Reference:page 3409-3418, 10 page(s)Publishing:5/2016Volume:16Number:10