Ultra-Sensitive Resonant MEMS Magnetometers with Internal Thermal-Piezoresistive Amplification

Funded by NSF

researchThe objective of this project is to explore the potentials of the internal thermal-piezoresistive self Q and displacement amplification effect in silicon resonant microstructures for realization of ultra-high sensitivity and low noise magnetometers.  The desirable outcome would be small size, low-cost, and easy to use highly sensitive magnetometers that can compete with much more sophisticated and demanding existing technologies including superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUID). The proposed approach is based on coupling the modulated Lorentz force from magnetic fields with the thermal-piezoresistive Q/displacement enhancement in resonant structures.  This results in amplification of vibration amplitude by orders of magnitude in the structure allowing detection of vibrations resulting from the smallest magnetic field intensities.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

  1. E. Mehdizadeh, V. Kumar, and Siavash Pourkamali, “Sensitivity Enhancement of Lorentz Force MEMS Resonant Magnetometers via Internal Thermal-Piezoresistive Amplification,” IEEE Electron Device Letters, vol. 35, no. 2, pp. 268–270, February 2014.