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September 7, 2006

Micromachined Artificial haircell Sensor Array

A micromachined artificial haircell sensor array. The horizontal portion is silicon and the vertical portion is permalloy and gold. The vertical portion is fabricated on the silicon substrate and magnetically assembled after thinning the silicon and etching a sacrificial release layer. It is 750 um tall. Fluid flow past the sensor causes deflection of the silicon beam that is measured with a piezoresistive strain gauge in the base of the beam. Multiple sensors provide sensitivity and selectivity to flow from different directions. (Date of Image: April 2002)

Credit: Image and device by Zhifang Fan, Micro Actuators, Sensors and Systems Group, Chang Liu, Director (http://mass.micro.uiuc.edu)

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