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This paper reports the thermal and electrical characteristics of a heated microcantilever in air and helium over a wide range of pressures. The cantilever heater size modulates thermal conductance between the cantilever and its gaseous surroundings; and the Knudsen number, Kn characterizes this thermal conductance. When Kn<1, thermal transport from the cantilever heater depends on gas pressure, and when Kn>1, thermal transport from the cantilever heater remains constant. This measurement of thermal conductance around Kn=1 could aid the design and analysis of Pirani sensors and other microscale thermal sensors and actuators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of Raman Stokes peak location and line width broadening methods were analyzed for thermometry of polysilicon microelectro-mechanical systems subjected to evolving stress. The results concluded that the Stokes linewidth was independent of stress variation, irrespective of stress state, allowing for temperature determination.

The thermal and electrical characteristics of a heated microcantilever in air and helium over a wide range of pressures are reported. The measurement of thermal conductance around Kn = 1 (where Kn = Knudsen number) could help in the design and analysis of Pirani sensors and other microscale thermal sensors and actuators.