Performance analysis of cantilever based MEMS sensor for environmental applications

In this paper we presents a MEMS (Micro-electromechanical System) cantilever based humidity sensor for various applications such as environmental monitoring, electronics, agriculture and biomedical fields. The main focus of this paper is to design, simulate and analyze the performance of MEMS based T shaped micro cantilevers using different sensing materials such as A1₂O₃, Porous Silicon and Poly Silicon. The simulation is done through finite element tool and parameters like the maximum induced stress; deflection and sensitivity of the diaphragms have been analyzed using the software INTELLISUITE version 8.7. The change in humidity element is bending of the micro cantilever that modifies the measured displacement between the substrate and the micro cantilever. This change in displacement gives the measure of amount of water vapor present in that environment. The outcome of these studies can be used to enhance the sensitivity of these devices. Here we observe that the best sensitivity output responses are obtained in the range of 10%RH to 100% RH and also the maximum sensitivity of 21.85 (m/%RH).