Fabrication and characterization of a microsystem for a micro-scale heat transfer study

A micro-system consisting of micro-channels with integrated temperature sen sors was successfully designed and fabricated for the study of the heat-tra nsfer properties of fluid flow in micro-domains. Surface micro-machining te chnology was used to construct the micro-channels with dimensions of about 40 mu m x 1.4 mu m x 4000 mu m. Polysilicon thermistors, 4 mu m x 4 mu m x 0.4 mu m in size were suspended across the channels and directly exposed to the fluid for local temperature measurements. The micro-channels and the m icro-sensors were calibrated and the micro-system was characterized. The in tegrated micro-system performance was theoretically analysed to provide a f ramework for the interpretation of the experimental data, and the various h eat-transfer mechanisms are subsequently discussed.