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MEMS Flow Sensor Based on a Sigma–Delta Modulator Embedded in the Thermal Domain

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Sensors and Microsystems

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Electrical Engineering ((LNEE,volume 268))

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Abstract

A system for gas flow measurement, based on MEMS flow sensing microstructures and a sigma–delta interface, is described. The sensing structures consist of double-heater differential microcalorimeters, obtained by means of a post-processing procedure applied to chips fabricated using the Bipolar-CMOS-DMOS process BCD6s of STMicroelectronics. Part of the sigma–delta modulator is implemented in the thermal domain by exploiting the versatility of the double-heater sensing structures. The measurements performed in nitrogen flow prove the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

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References

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank STMicroelectronics R&D group of Cornaredo (MI) for fabricating the sensor chip.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CNR IEIIT—Pisa, via G. Caruso, 16, Pisa, 56122, Italy

    M. Piotto

  2. Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell’Informazione, via G. Caruso, 16, Pisa, 56122, Italy

    A. N. Longhitano, F. Del Cesta & P. Bruschi

Authors
  1. M. Piotto
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  2. A. N. Longhitano
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  3. F. Del Cesta
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  4. P. Bruschi
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to P. Bruschi .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. of Electronic Engineering, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy

    Corrado Di Natale

  2. Department of Information Engineering, University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy

    Vittorio Ferrari

  3. SENSOR Laboratory, IDASC, National Research Council (CNR), Brescia, Italy

    Andrea Ponzoni

  4. Department of Information Engineering, University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy

    Giorgio Sberveglieri

  5. Department of Information Engineering, University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy

    Marco Ferrari

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© 2014 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

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Piotto, M., Longhitano, A.N., Del Cesta, F., Bruschi, P. (2014). MEMS Flow Sensor Based on a Sigma–Delta Modulator Embedded in the Thermal Domain. In: Di Natale, C., Ferrari, V., Ponzoni, A., Sberveglieri, G., Ferrari, M. (eds) Sensors and Microsystems. Lecture Notes in Electrical Engineering, vol 268. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-00684-0_58

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-00684-0_58

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-00683-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-00684-0

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)

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