TY - JOUR M1 - Copyright 2005, IEE TI - Characterizing fruit fly flight behavior using a microforce sensor with a new comb-drive configuration AD - Dept. of Mech., Univ. of Toronto, Ont., Canada JO - Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems T3 - J. Microelectromech. Syst. (USA) A1 - Yu Sun A1 - Fry, S.N. A1 - Potasek, D.P. A1 - Bell, D.J. A1 - Nelson, B.J. VL - 14 IS - 1 PY - 2005/02/ U1 - 8278506 SP - 4 EP - 11 SN - 1057-7157 CY - USA PB - IEEE N2 - This paper reports a MEMS microforce sensor with a novel configuration of bulk micromachined differential triplate comb drives that overcomes the difficulty of electrically isolating the two stationary capacitor comb sets in bulk micromachining. A high-yield fabrication process using deep-reactive ion etching (DRIE) on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers and only three lithographic masks was utilized to construct the high aspect ratio devices. The process features dry release of both suspended structures and the entire device in order to protect fragile components. The sensor has a high sensitivity (1.35 mV/N), good linearity (4%), and a large bandwidth (7.8 kHz), and is therefore well suited for characterizing flight behavior of fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster). The technique allows for the instantaneous measurement of flight forces, which result from a combination of aerodynamic forces and inertial forces generated by the wings, and demonstrates a novel experimental paradigm for exploring flight biomechanics in the fruit fly. The average lift force is determined to be 9.3 N (2.3 N), which is in the range of typical body weights of fruit flies. The potential impact of this research extends beyond gathering flight data on Drosophila melanogaster by demonstrating how MEMS technology can be used to provide valuable tools for biomechanical investigations KW - biomechanics KW - capacitive sensors KW - etching KW - force sensors KW - microsensors KW - silicon-on-insulator U2 - fruit fly U2 - flight behavior U2 - microforce sensor U2 - comb-drive configuration U2 - MEMS U2 - differential triplate comb drives U2 - capacitor comb sets U2 - bulk micromachining U2 - fabrication process U2 - deep-reactive ion etching U2 - silicon-on-insulator wafers U2 - lithographic masks U2 - high aspect ratio U2 - Drosophila melanogaster U2 - flight forces U2 - aerodynamic forces U2 - inertial forces U2 - flight biomechanics U2 - lift force U2 - capacitive sensor U2 - dice free dry release U2 - microforce sensing U2 - 7.8 kHz L2 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/JMEMS.2004.839028 ER -