Highly accurate thermal flow microsensor for continuous and quantitative measurement of cerebral blood flow

Fabrication and Evaluation of a Flexible MEMS-Based Microthermal Flow Sensor

Based on the results of computational fluid dynamics simulations, this study designed and fabricated a flexible thermal-type micro flow sensor comprising one microheater and two thermistors using a micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) process on a flexible polyimide film. The thermistors were connected to a Wheatstone bridge circuit, and the resistance difference between the thermistors resulting from the generation of a flow was converted into an output voltage signal using LabVIEW software. A mini tube flow test was conducted to demonstrate the sensor's detection of fluid velocity in gas and liquid flows. A good correlation was found between the experimental results and the simulation data. However, the results for the gas and liquid flows differed in that for gas, the output voltage increased with the fluid's velocity and decreased against the liquid's flow velocity. This study's MEMS-based flexible microthermal flow sensor achieved a resolution of 1.1 cm/s in a liquid flow and 0.64 cm/s in a gas flow, respectively, within a fluid flow velocity range of 0-40 cm/s. The sensor is suitable for many applications; however, with some adaptations to its electrical packaging, it will be particularly suitable for detecting biosignals in healthcare applications, including measuring respiration and body fluids.

Sensitivity Enhancement of Silicon-on-Insulator CMOS MEMS Thermal Hot-Film Flow Sensors by Minimizing Membrane Conductive Heat Losses

Minimizing conductive heat losses in Micro-Electro-Mechanical-Systems (MEMS) thermal (hot-film) flow sensors is the key to minimize the sensors' power consumption and maximize their sensitivity. Through a comprehensive review of literature on MEMS thermal (calorimetric, time of flight, hot-film/hot-film) flow sensors published during the last two decades, we establish that for curtailing conductive heat losses in the sensors, researchers have either used low thermal conductivity substrate materials or, as a more effective solution, created low thermal conductivity membranes under the heaters/hot-films. However, no systematic experimental study exists that investigates the effect of membrane shape, membrane size, heater/hot-film length and M e m b r a n e (size) to H e a t e r (hot-film length) Ratio (MHR) on sensors' conductive heat losses. Therefore, in this paper we have provided experimental evidence of dependence of conductive heat losses in membrane based MEMS hot-film flow sensors on MHR by using eight MEMS hot-film flow sensors, fabricated in a 1 µm silicon-on-insulator (SOI) CMOS foundry, that are thermally isolated by square and circular membranes. Experimental results demonstrate that: (a) thermal resistance of both square and circular membrane hot-film sensors increases with increasing MHR, and (b) conduction losses in square membrane based hot-film flow sensors are lower than the sensors having circular membrane. The difference (or gain) in thermal resistance of square membrane hot-film flow sensors viz-a-viz the sensors on circular membrane, however, decreases with increasing MHR. At MHR = 2, this difference is 5.2%, which reduces to 3.0% and 2.6% at MHR = 3 and MHR = 4, respectively. The study establishes that for membrane based SOI CMOS MEMS hot-film sensors, the optimum MHR is 3.35 for square membranes and 3.30 for circular membranes, beyond which the gain in sensors' thermal efficiency (thermal resistance) is not economical due to the associated sharp increase in the sensors' (membrane) size, which makes sensors more expensive as well as fragile. This paper hence, provides a key guideline to MEMS researchers for designing the square and circular membranes-supported micro-machined thermal (hot-film) flow sensors that are thermally most-efficient, mechanically robust and economically viable.

Development and application of a microfabricated multimodal neural catheter for neuroscience

We present a microfabricated neural catheter for real-time continuous monitoring of multiple physiological, biochemical and electrophysiological variables that are critical to the diagnosis and treatment of evolving brain injury. The first generation neural catheter was realized by polyimide-based micromachining and a spiral rolling packaging method. The mechanical design and electrical operation of the microsensors were optimized and tailored for multimodal monitoring in rat brain such that the potential thermal, chemical and electrical crosstalk among the microsensors as well as errors from micro-environmental fluctuations are minimized. In vitro cytotoxicity analyses suggest that the developed neural catheters are minimally toxic to rat cortical neuronal cultures. In addition, in vivo histopathology results showed neither acute nor chronic inflammation for 7 days post implantation. The performance of the neural catheter was assessed in an in vivo needle prick model as a translational replica of a "mini" traumatic brain injury. It successfully monitored the expected transient brain oxygen, temperature, regional cerebral blood flow, and DC potential changes during the passage of spreading depolarization waves. We envisage that the developed multimodal neural catheter can be used to decipher the causes and consequences of secondary brain injury processes with high spatial and temporal resolution while reducing the potential for iatrogenic injury inherent to current use of multiple invasive probes.