Reliability assessment of a gas microsensor

To ensure mechanical reliability of a gas microsensor based on a ceramic substrate, statistically based fracture mechanics have been employed. After thermomechanical finite element simulations have been performed, failure probabilities are calculated by a statistical analysis using the postprocessor STAU. It is shown that varying packaging designs influence the stress and temperature distribution considerably. The most reliable design accounts for this factor and the sensor is mounted just by bonding wires. Thus, energy consumption of the sensor is also significantly reduced.