The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 23, 2025
Filed:
Jul. 15, 2019
4k-mems SA, St Blaise, CH;
Matthias Imboden, St Blaise, CH;
4K-MEMS SA, St Blaise, CH;
Abstract
An IR radiator element suitable for use as a miniature infrared emitter (micro-hotplate) in a gas sensor, IR-spectrometer or electron microscope. The micro-hotplate comprises a plate supported by multiple support arms. The plate and arms are fabricated as a MEMS device comprising a single contiguous piece of electrically-conducting refractory ceramic such as hafnium carbide (HfC) or tantalum hafnium carbide (TaHfC). Each of the arms, in addition to providing structural cantilever support for the plate (), acts as a heating element for the plate. The plate is heated by applying a voltage across the arms. The arms may also be shaped to absorb thermomechanical stress which arises during the heating and cooling of the arms and plate. The plate, which may have an area of less than 0.05 mm2 and a thickness of between 1% and 10% of the largest dimension of the plate, for example, can be heated to 4,000 K or more and cooled again with a duty cycle of as little 0.5 ms, thereby permitting pulsed operation at frequencies of up to 2 kHz. Its small size (10-200 μm) and low power consumption (e.g. 10-100 mW) make the micro-hotplate suitable for use in cryogenic applications, in miniaturized devices or in battery-powered devices such as mobile phones.