Accurate analog temperature control of a thin film microheater on glass substrate for lab-on-chip applications

This paper presents a new methodology to accurately manage the temperature of microheaters manufactured on glass, based on an analog control circuit built around a single operational amplifier. The first step is an accurate electro-thermal characterization of the microheater, using a 4-terminal topology, in order to extract i) the microheater active area temperature as a function of both heating power and 2-wire electrical resistance and ii) the thermal resistances and capacitances of a thermal model. Then experimental measurements are shown and compared with simulations obtained using PSpice modelling.