摘要

A new analytical method which can support full computer-aided circuit design for a microelectromechanical (MEMS) thermoelectric microwave power sensor operable at X-band is presented in this paper. A reduced dimensional form of a heat transfer equation is built in the radial direction based on point heat source approximation and precise volume mesh of the sensor. Frequency dependent losses are discussed to explain the sensitivity degradation with frequency. Based on this analysis, an electrical model for the power sensor is established. This approach facilitates the modeling of the coupled energy domains in the power sensor straightforwardly by means of a computer-aided simulation. Better estimation property is obtained compared to our previous works. Verifications are both conducted through ANSYS simulation and measurements with close agreements are observed. Relative errors between them are smaller than 13%. The deviations are discussed in detail. Fabrication of the thermoelectric power sensor is based on MEMS technology and the GaAs MMIC process.