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A liquid crystal polymer membrane MEMS sensor for flow rate and flow
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Article  in  Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering · June 2011

DOI: 10.1088/0960-1317/21/8/085006

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IOP PUBLISHING JOURNAL OF MICROMECHANICS AND MICROENGINEERING
J. Micromech. Microeng. 21 (2011) 085006 (11pp) doi:10.1088/0960-1317/21/8/085006

A liquid crystal polymer membrane

MEMS sensor for flow rate and flow
direction sensing applications
A G P Kottapalli1 , C W Tan1,2 , M Olfatnia1 , J M Miao1,4 ,
G Barbastathis2,3 and M Triantafyllou2,3
1
School of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University,
50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798
2
Center for Environmental Sensing and Modeling (CENSAM) IRG, Singapore-MIT Alliance for
Research and Technology (SMART), 3 Science Drive 2, Singapore 117543
3
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts
Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
E-mail: mjmmiao@ntu.edu.sg

Received 22 March 2011, in final form 5 May 2011

Published 27 June 2011
Online at stacks.iop.org/JMM/21/085006

Abstract
The paper reports the design, fabrication and experimental results of a liquid crystal polymer
(LCP) membrane-based pressure sensor for flow rate and flow direction sensing applications.
Elaborate experimental testing results demonstrating the sensors’ performance as an airflow
sensor have been illustrated and validated with theory. MEMS sensors using LCP as a
membrane structural material show higher sensitivity and reliability over silicon counterparts.
The developed device is highly robust for harsh environment applications such as atmospheric
wind flow monitoring and underwater flow sensing. A simple, low-cost and repeatable
fabrication scheme has been developed employing low temperatures. The main features of the
sensor developed in this work are a LCP membrane with integrated thin film gold
piezoresistors deposited on it. The sensor developed demonstrates a good sensitivity of
3.695 mV (ms−1 )−1 , large operating range (0.1 to >10 ms−1 ) and good accuracy in measuring
airflow with an average error of only 3.6% full-scale in comparison with theory. Various
feasible applications of the developed sensor have been demonstrated with experimental
results. The sensor was tested for two other applications—in clinical diagnosis for breath rate,
breath velocity monitoring, and in underwater applications for object detection by sensing
near-field spatial flow pressure.
(Some figures in this article are in colour only in the electronic version)

1. Introduction Traditionally, large mechanical flow sensing devices were

The accurate measurement of fluid (air, water, etc) flow
velocity and direction is important in many applications mainly
in the areas of environmental monitoring, long-term weather
forecasting, process control, breath monitoring in medical
diagnosis, natural gas flow detection, aircraft vortex sensing
and emergency response wind monitoring.
4 Author to whom any correspondence should be addressed.
used such as turbines, pitot tubes, metal filament anemometers,
etc. These are impaired by large power consumption, poor
response, low sensitivity and large size. A variety of MEMS
flow sensors employing various sensing mechanisms have
been demonstrated in the past [1–8]. Tai et al [1] were among
the first to develop a microscale sensor for flow sensing. A
review of the literature reveals that most of the flow sensors
developed in the past can be majorly classified as thermal
and non-thermal sensors based on the mechanism of flow
sensing. Hot wire sensors—that work on the principle of

0960-1317/11/085006+11$33.00 1 © 2011 IOP Publishing Ltd Printed in the UK & the USA
J. Micromech. Microeng. 21 (2011) 085006
(a)
(b)
Figure 1. Device structure: (a) cross-sectional view and (b) top view.
fluid flow on a hot body changing its heating power [2]—and
calorimetric sensors—that work on the principle of asymmetry
of temperature profile around a heater—modulated by fluid
flow are the two basic types of thermal flow sensors. Thermal
flow sensors have disadvantages of high power consumption
and less compliance to integration with other microscale
systems. Therefore, in the recent years, considerable interest
has been devoted to non-thermal flow sensors. Non-thermal
flow sensors work on the principle of sensing pressure drop
when the sensor experiences fluid flow over its surface
[3–6]. The change in pressure is converted into the change
in a measurable property of the sensor, which is calibrated to
the fluid flow velocity.
The present state of the art of MEMS airflow sensors is
limited by the lack of repeatability, and sensitivity. Many
times there is a trade-off between mechanical strength and
reliability against sensitivity. For the purpose of airflow
sensing, work to date has mainly focussed on using silicon as a
structural material [6–8]. Using silicon as a structural material
for flow sensing presents some fundamental limitations.
Silicon has lower mechanical yield strain and hence is not
robust to large fluctuations in the flow, causing sudden
impact on the microstructure. Many silicon cantilever-based
piezoresistive sensors have been developed in the past for
flow monitoring applications [7, 8]. LCP has been used
in the past mainly for electronic packaging applications
[9–11]. In this work, we use LCP as a structural material.
The LCP material offers much higher sensitivity over silicon
as a structural material for flow sensing due to its much lower
Young’s modulus without compromising too much on the
response of the sensor [12]. More reliable, robust (due to
higher fracture limit) and highly sensitive (due to low Young’s
modulus) pressure sensors can be developed at low fabrication
costs employing LCP as a structural material over silicon.
Comparing silicon membrane and LCP membrane pressure
sensors with the same membrane dimensions and thickness,
2
A G P Kottapalli et al
the LCP sensor will be more sensitive than the silicon
membrane sensor. LCP has a very low moisture absorption
capability and is highly resistant to chemicals, which make
the sensor robust for applications in harsh environments, e.g.
atmospheric wind and water flow monitoring purposes. The
main advantages of the developed device include (1) increased
sensitivity over silicon counterparts, (2) increased robustness
for harsh environment, (3) low temperature processing—entire
fabrication has been done at <150 ◦ C, (4) simple device and
low fabrication costs and (5) low noise due to low electrical
leakage. The sensor developed in this work can sense a wide
range of airflow velocities. The sensor can detect the airflow
direction with good sensitivity at different flow velocities.
This paper presents the design and fabrication details
of a LCP membrane-based flow sensor. The complete
characterization and testing results of the performance of
the device in various applications have been presented. We
demonstrate the testing results for the sensor in three different
applications: (1) weather monitoring to measure wind flow
speeds and emergency wind response monitoring, (2) areas of
medical diagnosis where human breath rate and velocity need
to be monitored and (3) underwater near-field flow pattern
detection and object identification.
2. Design of the flow sensor
The device structure consists of a LCP membrane bonded to a
silicon wafer, and a deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) through-
hole etched into the silicon wafer releasing the membrane. On
top of the LCP membrane, which forms the structural layer,
a gold (Au) strain gauge is sputter-deposited. A schematic of
the side view and top view of the device structure is illustrated
in figure 1. The design consists of radial strain gauges placed
at the periphery of the membrane where maximum stress is
generated due to pressure applied on the membrane. A zig-
zag pattern of a resistor consisting of long radial elements and
J. Micromech. Microeng. 21 (2011) 085006 A G P Kottapalli et al

short tangential elements is designed. The wires linking two The bending strains in the radial and tangential directions are
neighboring radial wires are made short and wide because they given respectively by [15]
are strained perpendicular to the electric current and reduce the  w   t 2   r 2 
0
overall strain gauge signal [13]. εr = 2 3 −1 ;
Most traditional piezoresistive MEMS flow sensors use t a a
(6)
silicon structures and piezoresistors formed by controlled  w   t 2  r 2 
0
doping. In the sensor demonstrated in this work, a LCP εt = 2 −1 ,
t a a
diaphragm with a deposited Au strain gauge is used. Strain
gauges, unlike piezoresistors, have the advantage of low where εr and εt are the strains along the radial and tangential
temperature deposition and compliance with a wide range directions, respectively.
of materials. Strain gauges made of thin film metals do At r = a, maximum radial strain occurs εr = εr max and
not compare favorably with silicon piezoresistors in terms εt = 0 (where the radial strain gauge is placed). In fact,
of a gauge factor (gauge factor is the ratio of the relative although the radial strain gauge is placed at the circumference,
change in electrical resistance to mechanical strain). The it extends 400 μm toward the center from the circumference of
gauge factor of piezoresistive-doped silicon resistors is about the membrane forming a meander and the stress gets averaged
KSi = 140 whereas Au has a gauge factor of only KAu = 2. over this length [16]. However, for simplicity of calculations,
However, metal strain gauges on LCP offer better sensitivity we consider the resistor to be placed at r = a, where maximum
in comparison to piezoresistive silicon membranes (of the stress occurs. Substituting for w0 in equation (6), we obtain
same membrane dimensions and thickness) in spite of their maximum strain εr max as
  
low gauge factor. The reason is that the factor that affects 3 Pair  a 2
sensitivity is the ratio K/E as described in equation (1) below εr max = (1 − υ 2 ). (7)
4 E t
[12], where K is the gauge factor, and E is Young’s modulus of
It can be shown that the relative change in resistance for a
the material. Sensitivity is defined as the change in resistance
resistor segment deformed by being bonded to the top of a
of the strain gauge for unit stress generated:
    plate is [16]
R K
σ ≈ , (1) R 1 2υ − 1
R E ≈ εr + εt , (8)
R 1−υ 1−υ
where σ stands for stress. Young’s moduli of silicon and where εr and εt are as defined in equation (6). Using
LCP are ESi = 185 GPa, and ELCP = 2.16 GPa, respectively. equations (7) and (8) and substituting for the values E =
Calculating using equation (1), comparing two strain gauge 2.1 GPa (LCP), a = 1000 μm, υ = 0.3 and t = 25 μm,
pressure sensors of the same design of strain gauge dimensions we can get a simplified relation relating change in resistance
and membrane size and thickness, one made of the silicon
and flow pressure as expressed in equation (9). Actually the
membrane and the other made of the LCP membrane, the LCP
device structure consists of a thin intermediate SU-8 layer used
membrane sensor turns out to be 19% more sensitive.
for bonding LCP to silicon. Since the thickness of the SU-8
Considering the diaphragm to be a thick film diaphragm,
layer is very small (5 μm) as compared to the LCP membrane
i.e. small center deflection as compared to diaphragm
thickness (25 μm) in theoretical calculation the SU-8 thickness
thickness, the deflection w at any point on the diaphragm
layer was neglected:
under uniform pressure (considering a laminar airflow exerting
R
uniform pressure on the membrane) can be expressed in = 7.428 57 × 10−7 Pair . (9)
cylindrical coordinates by the partial differential equation [14] R
Pair Et 3 The air pressure Pair can be calculated by using Bernoulli’s
∇ 4w = ; D= , (2) equation
D 12(1 − υ 2 )
where Pair is the uniform pressure applied (force per unit area), Pair = 12 ρair Vair
2
, (10)
D is the flexural rigidity of the membrane, t is the thickness of where ρ air and Vair are the density and velocity of air. Using
the membrane and υ is Poisson’s ratio. The Laplacian for a equations (9) and (10) and ρ air = 1.25 kg m−3
circular plate used in equation (2) is defined as R
∂2 1 ∂2 1 ∂ = 4.643 × 10−7 Vair2
. (11)
∇2 = + + . (3) R
∂r 2 2
r ∂φ 2 r ∂r 3. Device fabrication
The solution for equation (2) is [14]
  r 2 2 The fabrication process mainly involves four steps: LCP
Pair a 4
w(r) = 1− , (4) silicon wafer bonding, DRIE for through-hole formation,
64D a
sputtering of a metal resistor and lift-off for resistor patterning.
where a is the radius of the membrane and r is the position We use a simple, low-cost and repeatable fabrication process
along the radial direction (0 < r < a). employing low temperatures.
The maximum displacement which occurs at the center of The fabrication scheme is described in the schematic
the membrane w0 is given by shown in figure 2. For the device fabrication, we use LCP
Pair a 4 3908, a 25 μm thick LCP film with copper cladding of
w0 = . (5)
64D thickness 18 μm on both sides. The fabrication process

3
J. Micromech. Microeng. 21 (2011) 085006
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
Figure 2. Overview of the fabrication process flow for the proposed flow sensor: (a) LCP–silicon bonding with an SU-8 intermediate layer,
(b) DRIE etching 400 μm through-hole and resist patterning, (c) 100 nm gold sputter deposition and (d) gold lift-off.
commences with the etching of copper completely from both
sides of the LCP leaving fresh LCP surfaces. The entire
device fabrication process involves very low temperatures of
<130 ◦ C. As a result, the processing scheme can be realized on
various substrate materials such as silicon, glass and polymers
such as LCP, Parylene, SU-8, etc. The first step is LCP–silicon
wafer bonding. LCP and silicon were bonded by using an SU-
8 intermediate adhesion layer. It was found that although very
good bonding forms between the silicon wafer and the LCP
film by direct bonding using a wafer bonder, there is a large
stress between the wafers causing the wafer-pair to buckle
after the bonding. The buckling is a result of large mismatch
between the coefficients of thermal expansion of silicon
(3.2 ppm ◦ C−1 ) and LCP (18 ppm ◦ C−1 ), causing the silicon
4
A G P Kottapalli et al
wafer to break into pieces during the process of dicing.
Therefore, we used an SU-8 intermediate layer for bonding
silicon to LCP and carried out the bonding at low temperatures
on a hotplate. Before spin coating SU-8, the silicon wafer was
cleaned in a piranha solution to avoid particle contamination
and the wafer was dehydrated on a hotplate at 130 ◦ C for
20 min to improve the adhesion of an SU-8 layer. SU-8 2005
was spin coated at 2500 rpm for 30 s on a silicon wafer to
form a 5 μm thick SU-8 layer. Then a LCP film cut into the
shape of a silicon wafer was carefully placed on the silicon
wafer, which is coated with an SU-8 layer. Both the wafers
were pressed together by placing a uniform load, ensuring that
no air bubbles are trapped at the interface. The wafer-pair is
then heat treated to enhance the bond strength. The bonded
J. Micromech. Microeng. 21 (2011) 085006 A G P Kottapalli et al

wafer-pair was initially heated at lower temperatures for longer

time before ramping to higher temperatures to avoid heat (a)
generated stress and trapped air bubbles at the interface as
the solvent in SU-8 evaporates. During the heating process, a
uniform pressure of 5 kPa was maintained by placing uniform
circular metal wafers on the bonded wafer-pair. The wafer-pair
was heat treated by increasing the temperature in steps starting
at 45 ◦ C for 20 min, then at 80 ◦ C for 10 min followed by
120 ◦ C for 20 min. During the heating process the SU-8 layer
hardens and enhances the bond strength between the silicon
wafer and the LCP film. DRIE holes were etched on the other
side of the silicon wafer in order to release the LCP diaphragm
as shown in figure 2(b). To protect the LCP film during DRIE
etching a protection silicon wafer spin coated with a 7 μm resist
was bonded on the other side of LCP. This wafer can be easily
removed by dipping in acetone for a few minutes after etching
DRIE holes. During this step, the LCP silicon bonding still
remains intact because the SU-8 intermediate layer is already (b)
hardened by heat treatment and is not attacked by acetone.
The next step is to form the thin film resistor on the diaphragm
surface. We have chosen to use Au metal for strain gauge
because it has more conformal deposition than other metals
such as Ni, NiCr and Al, which allows electrical continuity
across edges of the membrane. Also gold has a high gauge
factor. From the processing point of view, LCP membranes
have an advantage of uniformity of thickness. Since the LCP
membrane thickness is not defined by any etching process,
the thickness is very uniform and does not involve any non-
uniformity errors caused by the etching process.
A 5 μm thick resist was spin coated on the LCP for lift-off.
A mask containing the serpentine resistor features was aligned
with the DRIE holes using backside alignment. The resist was
exposed and patterned as shown in figure 2(b). A 100 nm
Au layer (with a 10 nm Cr layer to enhance Au adhesion) Figure 3. Optical images of (a) front side showing serpentine
was then sputter deposited on the patterned resist as shown in piezoresistor on the LCP membrane and (b) backside DRIE
figure 2(c). The next step is to lift off the Au by etching the through-hole.
sacrificial resist layer underneath. The wafer was dipped in an
acetone solution and was ultrasonically agitated for 20 s. An practical applications, the front side of the membrane can be
optical image of the membrane with a serpentine piezoresistor coated with a thin layer of polymer, such as Parylene or PDMS,
is shown in figure 3(a). An optical image of the backside for insulation and protection of the piezoresistor. The output
DRIE through-hole is shown in figure 3(b). from the sensor was connected to a National Instruments data
acquisition (NI-DAQ) system and the change in resistance
4. Device characterization, testing results and data is acquired using LABVIEW software at an acquisition
discussions rate of 1000 Hz. An external Wheatstone bridge circuit on a
PCB with a bias voltage of 5 V was used to convert a small
The fabricated LCP membrane pressure sensors have been change in resistance to measurable voltage change. The sensor
characterized and tested as an airflow sensor. The sensor demonstrated a very low noise of the order of nano-volts while
was tested for a wide range of flow velocities from velocities the order of change in voltage due to airflow was in milli-volts.
as low as those generated by human breathing (estimated
to be 0.1 ms−1 ) [17] to high velocities generated by heavy 4.1. Application: airflow sensor
atmospheric winds (over 10 ms−1 ). This demonstrates a wide
range of applications of the fabricated sensor. The sensor In order to demonstrate the working of the sensor as an airflow
finds applications in areas of medical diagnosis where human monitoring sensor, we tested the sensor in a wind tunnel
breathing rate and velocity need to be monitored. Also it can for velocities ranging from 1 to 10 m s−1 . The sensor was
be used in weather monitoring to measure wind flow velocities mounted at the center of the wind tunnel with the plane of
and emergency wind response. When the airflow passes over the sensor membrane perpendicular to the plane of the airflow
the LCP membrane, the flow pressure displaces the membrane, direction. The wind velocity was increased step by step while
causing the resistance of the piezoresistor to change. For the resistance change data from the sensor were continuously

5
J. Micromech. Microeng. 21 (2011) 085006
Figure 4. Experimental and theoretical results of airflow velocity measurement demonstrating a relative resistance change with airflow
velocity.
Pressure gauge
Vacuum pump
Regulator
Figure 5. Schematic of a vacuum pump calibration set-up.
acquired. For reference purposes, a commercial hot wire
anemometer sensor was also placed inside the wind tunnel.
Figure 4 shows a plot of the experimental observation result,
and the theoretical estimation result of the change in resistance
generated by varying flow velocities. As can be seen from the
experimental data shown in figure 4, the sensor shows a good
velocity squared relationship as expected [18] and compares
favorably with theoretical calculations. The resistance change
for various flow velocities has been theoretically calculated
using equation (11) and plotted in figure 4. As can be implied
from figure 4, the experimental observations match well with
the theoretical calculation values with an averaged error of
3.6% of full scale. The sensor demonstrates a good sensitivity
of 3.695 mV (ms−1 )−1 to airflow velocity. Since the wind
tunnel available can reach a maximum of only 10 m s−1 , testing
could not be done for higher wind flow velocities. However,
we have calibrated the sensor for even higher pressures using a
vacuum pump test. A schematic of the set-up is shown in figure
5. A vacuum pump was used to create suction pressure to pull
the membrane while the pressure created was measured by a
pressure gauge [19]. A fixture was created using an aluminum
block with holes drilled to carefully transfer the pressure from
6
A G P Kottapalli et al
Wheatstone Bridge
DAQ
circuit
LABVIEW
LCP membrane
pressure sensor
Fixture
the vacuum pump to the LCP membrane. Figure 6(a) shows
a plot of sensor time response to changes in pressure as the
vacuum pump pressure changes. Figure 6(b) shows a plot of
the sensor response to pressure. The sensor behaves linearly
initially and soon tends to saturate and behaves nonlinearly
at high pressures. The reason being that up to pressures of
1.5 kPa (corresponding to a maximum displacement w0 of
7.5 μm, 25% of the diaphragm thickness) the membrane
behaves as a thick film after which it behaves as a thin film
membrane [14]. There are two plate deflection theories:
small deflection theory (the membrane behaves as a thick
film), which deals with deflections of less than 25% of
diaphragm thickness, and large deflection theory. The
equations governing the thin film displacement under uniform
pressure take over after a pressure of 1.5 kPa [20].
4.2. Application: the airflow direction sensor
The sensor was mounted firmly onto a rotatable fixture such
that the sensor is positioned in the center of the wind tunnel.
The sensor was rotated from 0◦ to 90◦ with respect to the
J. Micromech. Microeng. 21 (2011) 085006
(a)
(b)
Figure 6. Experimental result of pressure–resistance measurement (pressure applied using a vacuum pump): (a) relative resistance
variation with changing vacuum pump pressure on a sensor diaphragm and (b) resistance–pressure measurement plot.
airflow direction at angle intervals of 20◦ . At each angle,
the airflow velocity was varied in steps of 0, 3.5, 5, 7.5, 9,
10.5 m s−1 while the data of resistance change were
continuously acquired. A plot of resistance change upon
changing airflow velocities in different directions of flow with
respect to the sensor is demonstrated in figure 7(a). Each
shaded line corresponds to an angle at which data are acquired.
Each step in the plot is caused by a change in pressure at the
sensor’s LCP diaphragm due to the change in flow velocity.
Figure 7(b) describes the sensor measurement plot with flow
velocities in different directions of the sensor with respect to
airflow. The sensor shows the maximum resistance change
when it is at an angle of 90◦ to the airflow direction, i.e.
the plane of the membrane of the sensor is perpendicular to the
flow direction. Under this condition, a maximum displacement
of the diaphragm occurs, causing a maximum change in metal
7
A G P Kottapalli et al
strain gauge dimensions, and hence, a high resistance change
occurs. As the angle of attack of the airflow direction reduces
to 0◦ , the flow pressure on the diaphragm keeps reducing until
a minimum resistance change at 0◦ . This can be visualized in
figures 7(a) and (b). The results demonstrate that the sensor
shows a strong dependence on the flow direction.
Figure 8 describes the study of a hysteresis phenomenon in
strain gauge pressure sensing. In an ideal case, a sensor should
follow the same resistance path as the airflow is increased
and decreased. However, in a real case most of the sensors
exhibit hysteresis. The temperature was maintained constant
at a room temperature of 25 ◦ C and airflow was increased in
steps from 0 to 11 m s−1 and then reduced back in the same
steps to 0 m s−1 . Hysteresis of 8.4% of full scale is observed
as seen from figure 8. The hysteresis occurs due to a shift
in base line resistance over time. The viscoelasticity of LCP
J. Micromech. Microeng. 21 (2011) 085006
(a)
(b)
Figure 7. Experimental results of airflow direction sensing. Each shaded line indicates measurement at a particular airflow direction angle.
The plots show the relative resistance change for different flow directions as a function of (a) time and (b) airflow velocity.
controls strain creep and thus resistance creep, which leads to
drift in the base line resistance value over time. It has been
proposed in the past that flexing LCP membranes repeatedly
can get rid of hysteresis [21].
4.3. Application: human breath monitoring system
Determining the airflow velocity profiles at various points of
the nasal cavity is an important study in the clinical field
[17]. The airflow velocity changes along the nasal cavity are
mainly because of the anatomy of the nose. Most physiological
functions of the nose depend on airflow. Many studies, both
analytical and experimental, have been conducted in the past
to investigate the flow velocities at various points along the
nasal cavity [22]. Velocities in the superior zone of the nasal
8
A G P Kottapalli et al
cavity near the nostril are as low as 0.1 m s−1 for a normal
calm inhaling and exhaling breathing action.
The sensor has been tested to respond very well to a
calm exhaling action of human breathing. To convert the
small resistance change to a measurable voltage change, the
sensor was connected to an external Wheatstone bridge circuit
constructed on a PCB. A bias voltage of 5 V was applied to
the bridge circuit. The other three resistors were chosen to
be of the same resistance value (400 ) as the strain gauge
resistance to obtain maximum sensitivity.
The sensor was placed in front of the external nasal cavity
or the nostril and a calm breathing inhaling and exhaling
action was performed. Figure 9 describes the signal acquired.
The SRS SR560 low-noise amplifier was used with a gain of
500 to amplify the voltage drop across the piezoresistor. As
seen in figure 9, each dip in the voltage corresponds to one
J. Micromech. Microeng. 21 (2011) 085006 A G P Kottapalli et al

Figure 8. Sensing hysteresis of the LCP flow sensor.

Figure 9. Experimental results demonstrating the sensor as a human breathing monitoring system.

exhaling action of the nostril. The sensor was able to detect
and respond very well to airflow in the superior zone of the
nasal cavity. The sensor can be used to quantify the rate of
exhaling and also flow velocity generated in exhaling, which
are quite important parameters of nasal flow monitoring for
clinical purposes.
5. Underwater object detection applications
The sensor has also been tested underwater for object
detection applications. We present some preliminary results
of underwater detection. The identification and measurement
of the spatial pressure fields created by moving objects
underwater is an important criterion needed for underwater
vehicles to avoid obstacles [23]. The fabricated LCP MEMS
sensor can efficiently detect near-field flow patterns generated
in water by objects passing it by detecting the pressure fields
generated by the object movement. Figure 10 demonstrates the
schematic of the experimental set-up used for underwater near-
field pressure sensing due to the moving object. In order to
test the device for this purpose, the sensor or device under test
(DUT) was firmly mounted on the wall of a large container
filled with water. A cylinder of radius 10 mm (object) was
passed by the sensor in water at a distance of 4 inch in a

9
J. Micromech. Microeng. 21 (2011) 085006
Figure 10. Schematic of the underwater object detection set-up showing the two sensors or device under test (DUT) and a cylindrical
object. The object is moved in and out of the plane of the paper.
Figure 11. The graph shows the voltage drop created due to the pressure wave created by passing an object in front of the sensor diaphragm
underwater.
straight line while the data were acquired. The output from
the sensor was 500 times amplified using the SRS SR560 low-
noise amplifier. Figure 11 describes the data acquired. Each
light grey arrow indicates a voltage drop at the sensor due to
the pressure wave generated in water by a single object-pass
that propagates to the sensor and displaces the diaphragm.
Figure 11 describes the data for passing the object five times
and the consequent pressure drops detected by the sensor. The
arrows shown in grey are the pressure drop created by the
hydrostatic pressure of dipping and removing the sensor from
water prior to and after the experiment of passing the object
respectively. As can be seen from the plot, the voltage level
after the sensor was removed from water is not exactly the
same as the voltage before dipping it in water. The reason
for this is a thin film of water clinging to the LCP membrane
10
A G P Kottapalli et al
after the sensor was removed from water. The response of
the sensor is lower compared to the pressure dips obtained
in figure 9 (result in air) because of the damping caused by
the density and viscosity of water [19]. In the case of all the
object-passes, the pressure response of the sensor could be
described as a sharp drop in voltage as the object arrives near
the sensor and a slow return back to the hydrostatic pressure.
The split in the peak pressure after every object-pass indicated
by a down pointing black arrow is generated due to the return
action of the object after a pass. Figure 11 describes five passes
of the object across the sensor in a straight line at a distance of
4 inch with three passes left to right and two returning passes
from right to left of the DUT. The experiment with an object
passing the sensor was repeated many times and the results
were quite repeatable. Work toward developing arrays of
J. Micromech. Microeng. 21 (2011) 085006
such LCP membrane-based sensors to be able to detect and
analyze a complete flow profile generated by moving objects
is currently under progress.
6. Conclusion and future scope
We have developed a LCP membrane-based sensor for flow
rate and flow direction sensing applications. The sensor
developed in this work demonstrates a high sensitivity over
a wide range of flow velocities and a good response to detect
the directionality of flow. The device is highly reliable and
sensitive when compared to silicon flow sensors and is robust
for harsh environment applications. Elaborate characterization
and testing results of the device as an airflow rate and flow
direction sensor have been presented. The sensor has also
been tested for its working in applications of clinical diagnosis
for breath monitoring and underwater object detection. A
simple, inexpensive and repeatable fabrication scheme has
been developed. The experimental results obtained have been
validated by theoretical calculations.
More work is in progress in the direction of fabricating
arrays of LCP membrane-based pressure sensors for
underwater sensing applications. This is an important aspect
for autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) to detect, classify
and locate nearby objects and optimize their motion in an
unsteady environment. Underwater object identification by
detecting a near-field spatial pressure profile generated by
the moving object requires densely packed arrays of pressure
sensors. Work toward packaging the sensors for withstanding
harsh underwater environment is needed.
Acknowledgment
This research was funded by the Singapore National
Research Foundation (NRF) through the Singapore–MIT
Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART), Center for
Environmental Sensing and Modeling (CENSAM) IRG.
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