An integrated thermal sensor platform for multi-variable detection

A single chip sensor platform, including different kind of thermal sensors and advanced readout electronic circuits, is described. The chip is obtained using a two-step procedure: (i) the preliminary die is fabricated by a standard microelectronic process (STMicroelectronics BCD6s); (ii) post-processing is applied to the die to introduce thermal insulation between the sensor elements and the substrate. The sensors are finalized to detect flow rate, pressure and acoustical particle velocity. The electronic circuits include two low noise amplifiers and a programmable current source for sensor biasing.