High-temperature MEMS heater platforms:: Long-term performance of metal and semiconductor heater materials

Micromachined thermal heater platforms offer low electrical power consumption and high modulation speed, i.e. properties which are advantageous for realizing non-dispersive infrared (NDIR) gas- and liquid monitoring systems. In this paper, we report on investigations on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) based infrared (IR) emitter devices heated by employing different kinds of metallic and semiconductor heater materials. Our results clearly reveal the superior high-temperature performance of semiconductor over metallic heater materials. Long-term stable emitter operation in the vicinity of 1300 K could be attained using heavily antimony-doped tin dioxide (SnO2: Sb) heater elements.