Applied Sciences (Apr 2021)

Development of Highly Sensitive Temperature Microsensors for Localized Measurements

  • Paulo J. Sousa,
  • Vânia C. Pinto,
  • Vitor H. Magalhães,
  • Raquel O. Rodrigues,
  • Patrícia C. Sousa,
  • Graça Minas

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/app11093864
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 11, no. 9
p. 3864

Abstract

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This paper presents the design, fabrication and characterization of temperature microsensors based on Resistance Temperature Detectors (RTDs) with a meander-shaped geometry. Numerical simulations were performed for studying the sensitivity of the RTDs according to their windings numbers as well as for optimizing their layout. These RTDs were fabricated using well-established microfabrication and photolithographic techniques. The fabricated sensors feature high sensitivity (0.3542 mV/°C), linearity and reproducibility in a temperature range of 35 to 45 °C. Additionally, each sensor has a small size with a strong potential for their integration in microfluidic devices, as organ-on-a-chip, allowing the possibility for in-situ monitoring the physiochemical properties of the cellular microenvironment.

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