A novel two-dimensional thermal convection based MEMS acoustic vector sensor

An acoustic vector sensor can measure acoustic particle velocity and pressure simultaneously,which is important for capturing sound field information.An integrated twodimensional(2D)vector sensor is desired for various applications;however,its manufacturing remains challenging.In this study,a novel thermal-convection-based acoustic vector sensor comprising multiple crossed wires suspended in an etched cavity is designed.The sensor can directly measure two-dimensional particle velocity,and its performance is optimized using numerical simulations.The integrated sensor was fabricated by the microelectromechanical system process,and the frequency response and directivity pattern were measured,exhibiting high sensitivity and good orthogonal quality.