MEMS based hair flow-sensors as model systems for acoustic perception studies
- 25 January 2006
- journal article
- Published by IOP Publishing in Nanotechnology
- Vol. 17 (4), S84-S89
- https://doi.org/10.1088/0957-4484/17/4/013
Abstract
Arrays of MEMS fabricated flow sensors inspired by the acoustic flow-sensitive hairs found on the cerci of crickets have been designed, fabricated and characterized. The hairs consist of up to 1 mm long SU-8 structures mounted on suspended membranes with normal translational and rotational degrees of freedom. Electrodes on the membrane and on the substrate form variable capacitors, allowing for capacitive read-out. Capacitance versus voltage, frequency dependence and directional sensitivity measurements have been successfully carried out on fabricated sensor arrays, showing the viability of the concept. The sensors form a model system allowing for investigations on sensory acoustics by their arrayed nature, their adaptivity via electrostatic interaction (frequency tuning and parametric amplification) and their susceptibility to noise (stochastic resonance).Keywords
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