A Micromechanical Parylene Spiral-Tube Sensor and Its Applications of Unpowered Environmental Pressure/Temperature Sensing

A multi-function micromechanical pressure/temperature sensor incorporating a microfabricated parylene spiral tube is presented. Its visible responses in expression of in situ rotational tube deformation enable unpowered sensing directly from optical device observation without electrical or any powered signal transduction. Sensor characterizations show promising pressure (14.46°/kPa sensitivity, 0.11 kPa resolution) and temperature (6.28°/°C sensitivity, 0.24 °C resolution) responses. Depending on different application requests, this sensor can be individually utilized to measure pressure/temperature of systems having one property varying while the other stabilized, such as intraocular or other in vivo pressure sensing of certain apparatus inside human bodies or other biological targets. A straightforward sensor-pair configuration has also been implemented to retrieve the decoupled pressure and temperature readouts, hence ultimately realizes a convenient environmental pressure and temperature sensing in various systems.