Design and simulation of parallel microheater

Abstract

This paper presents the design and simulation of a thin film microheater. This can have promising applications in bio-medical analysis, explosive detection, gas sensing, and micro-thrusters. An approach is presented to enhance the thermal uniformity of parallel microheater. The modeling of microheater is done using glass as a substrate material. The analysis is carried out with different resistive material for the heater. To study the response of the microheater to the different supply voltage, substrate thickness, and time interval, finite element simulation is carried out with commercial FEM analysis tool- COMSOL Multiphysics 5.2a. The proposed design in Model 1 have high contact resistance and it suffers from the contact-heating problem; however, Model 2 offers an excellent thermal uniformity with a tolerance of 1°C. There is a good agreement between the simulated and the theoretical results.