The humidity, temperature, wind speed/direction micro sensors can be manufactured individually, resulting in three individual substrates. The integration of the three sensors into a single substrate is a vital challenge to achieve an integrated intelligent sensor so called a multiple sensor. This requires the integration of process flows and is a major challenge because adequate sensor performance must be maintained. Polyimide was selected as a humidity sensing material for its compatibility with conventional integrated circuit fabrication technology, negligible temperature dependence and good resistance against contamination. Nickel was selected for the temperature and wind speed/direction sensor because of its useful temperature coefficient and the advantage of its cost. Since the known wet etchant for nickel requires hard-baked photoresist, a method which does not attack the polyimide while removing the photoresist must be developed. The method developed for etching nickel employs hard-bake-free photoresist. Other challenge was ensuring good thermal isolation for the wind speed/direction sensor fabricated on a silicon nitride layer preformed on top of a silicon wafer. Since silicon acts as a good heat sink, the silicon under the sensor was etched entirely away until the silicon nitride layer was reached. This structure achieved good thermal isolation resulting in small power consumption. This low power feature is essential for sensors deployed in fields where power access or replacement of power sources is restricted. This structure was compared with the structure created by polyimide plateau on a silicon nitride layer coated on a silicon substrate as a function of power consumption. Based on the examination of thermal isolation, the multiple sensor utilizing a MEMS technique was fabricated with a single-sided mask aligner. The characteristics of humidity sensors fabricated with polyimide were examined in detail with respect to variations of electrode structures, improvement of sensitivity, effect of process temperature, temperature and frequency dependence, and stability. The humidity sensor constructed with O2 plasma treated polyimide resulted an improvement in sensitivity and hysteresis. The investigation using XPS, FTIR and AFM concluded the chemical modification of polyimide played an important role in this improvement. The design, fabrication and results of a series of humidity sensors are quantified. There is always no unique packaging solution for sensors because of the application-specific nature of the sensors. This intelligent environmental monitoring system was designed to accommodate both an environmental sensor and its signal conditioning electronics circuitry (SICONEC) into a single package. The environmental sensors need direct exposure to the environment while SICONEC needs a sealed encapsulation to avoid environmental damage. A new style of packaging addressing these requirements was demonstrated using a hot embossing machine. The hot embossing machine was used to embed an integrated circuit (IC) in a bare die condition into a polycarbonate (PC) sheet. In this case, the IC was flipped down against the PC, which protects the front side of the IC from the environmental damages. In a test phase, a die containing operational amplifiers was embossed into the PC. A humidity sensor and surface mount resisters were placed on the same surface of the PC to test the validity of this new technique. Interconnection between the embossed die and the humidity sensor was established using bonding wires. Copper tracks were also used to ensure all electrical connections for the die, the humidity sensor and the resistors. The results clarified the method developed. Details of process methods, issues and further potential improvement are reported.

This thesis work provides an insight into the design of Force-amplifying Compliant Mechanisms (FaCMs) that are integrated with micromachined resonant accelerometers to increase their sensitivity. An FaCM, by mechanically amplifying the inertial force, enhances the shift in the resonance frequency of the beams used for sensing the acceleration whose effect causes an axial force on the beams. An extensive study on different configurations of resonators namely, single beam resonator, single-ended tuning fork (SETF), and double-ended tuning fork (DETF), is carried out to gain insights about their resonant behavior. The influence of the boundary conditions on the sensor’s sensitivity emerged from the study. We found that not only the force-amplification factor but also the multi-axial stiffness of the FaCM and proof-mass influence the resonance frequency of the resonator as well as the bandwidth of the modified sensor for certain configurations but not all. Thus, four lumped parameters were identified to quantify the effectiveness of an FaCM. These parameters determine the boundary condition of the sensing beams and also the forces and the moment transmitted to them. Also presented in this work is a computationally efficient model, called the Lumped Parameter Model (LPM) for evaluation of the sensitivity. An analytical expression for the frequency-shift of the sensing resonator beams is obtained by considering the FaCM stiffness parameters as well as the lumped stiffness of the suspension of the inertial mass. Various FaCMs are evaluated and compared to understand how the four lumped parameters influence the sensor’s sensitivity. The FaCMs are synthesized using topology optimization to maximize the net amplification factor with the volume constraint. One of the FaCMs outperforms the lever by a factor of six. Microfabrication of resonant accelerometer coupled with FaCM and comb-drive actuator is carried out using a silicon-on-insulator process. Finally, the selection map technique, a compliant mechanism redesign methodology is used for enhancing the amplification of FaCMs. This technique provides scope for further design improvement in FaCMs for given sensor specifications.

La stéréolithographie biphotonique (TPS) est une technique de microfabrication 3D basée sur la polymérisation par absorption biphotonique qui permet d’obtenir en une seule étape des structures 3D complexes avec des détails sub-100nm. Aujourd’hui, en raison des conditions spécifiques de fabrication liées à la TPS (fort flux, confinement spatial de la photoréaction,…), un des enjeux concerne le développement de matériaux fonctionnels compatibles avec ce procédé. Dans ce contexte, l’objectif de cette thèse a été de développer de nouveaux matériaux fonctionnels à base de polymères à empreintes moléculaires (MIP) pour élaborer des capteurs chimiques. Une première partie de ce travail a consisté à mettre en place différentes méthodes dédiées à la caractérisation des propriétés géométriques, chimiques et mécaniques des matériaux élaborés par TPS. Par exemple, la vibrométrie laser a été utilisée pour la première fois afin de sonder de façon non-invasive les propriétés mécaniques de microstructures réalisées par TPS. Dans un second temps, ce travail a été mis à profit pour étudier l’impact du processus de fabrication (i.e. conditions photoniques) ainsi que des paramètres physico-chimiques affectant la photoréaction (i.e. inhibition par oxygène et nature du monomère) sur les propriétés finales des matériaux. Enfin, en s’appuyant sur les résultats obtenus, des microcapteurs chimiques à base de MIP, à lecture optique ou mécanique, ont été fabriqués. Leurs propriétés de reconnaissance moléculaire, ainsi que leurs sélectivités ont été démontrées pour une molécule cible modèle (D-L-Phe). / The two-photon stereolithography (TPS) technique is a micro-nanofabrication method based on photopolymerization by two-photon absorption that allows in a single manufacturing step to obtain complex 3D structures with high-resolution details (sub-100nm). Due to the specific conditions of TPS process (intense photon flux, spatial confinement of the photoreaction…) one of the main concerns today is the development of functional materials compatible with the TPS. According to the aforementioned, the general objective of this thesis was to develop new functional materials based on molecularly imprinted polymers (MIP) to elaborate chemical microsensors. In the first step of this work, different methods were implemented to characterize the geometrical, chemical and mechanical properties of the materials synthesized by TPS. For example, laser-Doppler vibrometry was used for first time to evaluate the mechanical properties of microstructures fabricated by TPS in a non-invasive way. In the second step, the characterization methodology was used to study the impact of the manufacturing process (i.e. photonic conditions) and the physicochemical parameters that affect the photoreaction (i.e. oxygen inhibition and the nature of the monomer) and the final properties of the materials. Finally, the obtained results enabled the prototyping of chemical microsensors based on MIP. Their molecular recognition properties and their selectivity were demonstrated for the molecule (D-L-Phe) by an optical and a mechanical sensing method.

This research investigates how to draw energy from a distant emanating and alternating (i.e., AC) magnetic source and deliver it to a battery (i.e., DC). The objective is to develop, design, simulate, build, test, and evaluate a CMOS charger integrated circuit (IC) that wirelessly charges the battery of a microsystem. A fundamental challenge here is that a tiny receiver coil only produces mV's of AC voltage, which is difficult to convert into DC form. Although LC-boosted diode-bridge rectifiers in the literature today extract energy from similar AC sources, they can do so only when AC voltages are higher than what miniaturized coils can produce, unless tuned off-chip capacitors are available, which counters the aim of integration. Therefore, rather than rectify the AC voltage, this research proposes to rectify the current that the AC voltage induces in the coil. This way, the system can still draw power from voltages that fall below the inherent threshold limit of diode-bridge rectifiers. Still, output power is low because, with these low currents, small coils can only extract a diminutive fraction of the magnetic energy available, which is why investing battery energy is also part of this research. Ultimately, the significance of increasing the power that miniaturized platforms can output is higher integration and functionality of micro-devices, like wireless microsensors and biomedical implants.