Design and characterization of microelectromechanical system flow sensors using silicon nanowires

Cantilever structures were reported to be used for flow sensing purposes. Herein, we present silicon nanowire (SiNW) based cantilever flow sensor. Five cantilever flow sensors with different depths are modeled and simulated (fluid-structure) with water flow velocity from 50 cm/s to 200 cm/s. SiNW is embedded in the cantilever as piezoresistive transducer at the anchor, and a maximum resistance change of 11.2% is obtained. Based on the results, increasing depth will not only contributes to larger cantilever deformation at fixed flow velocity, but also improves its sensitivity. However when the depth become larger to certain degree, this effect tends to saturate.