A Unified MEMS-Based Micro-Sensing Platform for Smart Electronics and Biomedical Monitoring: Design, Fabrication, and Experimental Validation

Abstract

Micro-sensing technologies built upon microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) are quickly emerging as the technology of choice in the fields of smart electronics and biomedical health monitoring, as they not only can integrate sensing, signal processing and communication in a single platform but are also very power efficient and microscopically small. This paper is a systematic investigation into the design and fabrication, and integration of MEMS based sensors that are suited to dual-domain applications, including wearables smart electronics to implantable biomedical devices. This research is aimed at developing four major types of sensors namely capacitive pressure sensors, piezoelectric inertial sensors, thermal flow sensors and electrochemical biosensors. Such devices have been produced by CMOS-MEMS process, and simulations using COMSOL Multiphysics have been carried out in order to maximize their performance in real practice. The biocompatible materials that were used in sensor packaging were used to facilitate long-term physiological monitor. To be used in Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) systems the proposed micro-sensing systems were combined with embedded analog front-ends and low-power wireless communication modules. Experimental demonstrations showed great gains in sensitivity, average energy consumption and response time when compared to a typical solution employing sensors, as well as reliable operation in wearable and implantable forms of continuous health monitoring. The paper highlights the opportunity of MEMS-based micro-sensing systems as building blocks of the next-generation electronics and precision healthcare technologies.