发明授权
- 专利标题: Method and apparatus for thermally actuated self testing of silicon structures
- 专利标题(中): 用于硅结构的热致自我测试的方法和装置
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申请号: US758836申请日: 1991-09-13
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公开(公告)号: US5355712A公开(公告)日: 1994-10-18
- 发明人: Kurt Petersen , Farzad Pourahmadi , Russell Craddock
- 申请人: Kurt Petersen , Farzad Pourahmadi , Russell Craddock
- 申请人地址: CA Fremont
- 专利权人: Lucas NovaSensor
- 当前专利权人: Lucas NovaSensor
- 当前专利权人地址: CA Fremont
- 主分类号: G01P21/00
- IPC分类号: G01P21/00
摘要:
The present invention discloses a method and apparatus for testing the operational capability of flexure area equipped sensors especially those made of micromachined silicon. A thermal actuator beam is provided to bridge the structures which are joined by the flexure area. During the test, the beam's temperature is changed relative to that of the flexure area so as to provide a differential expansion or contraction. The result is that the flexure area bends and conventional bending sensors for the flexure area can sense the amount of bend. By comparing the actual amount of bend sensed with the amount expected from the temperature change applied to the beam, the operational capability can be determined.