Silicon microcantilever hotplates with high temperature uniformity

This paper presents microcantilevers with integrated heater-thermometers that are engineered to have regions of highly uniform temperature. The cantilevers are fabricated from doped single crystal silicon. Four cantilever designs are considered, where the regions of doping and the cantilever dimensions are selected to achieve the highest temperature uniformity over a region 100 mu m x 100 mu m at the cantilever free end. The cantilever electrical, thermal, and mechanical properties were characterized using laser vibrometry and Raman spectroscopy. The temperature uniformity achieved is 2-4%, varying slightly over the temperature range 25-200 degrees C and varying between the cantilever designs. The cantilevers are of size suitable for operation in AFM or as cantilever sensors. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.