Fabrication of single-walled carbon-nanotube-based pressure sensors

C Stampfer; T Helbling; D Obergfell; B Schöberle; M K Tripp; A Jungen; S Roth; V M Bright; C Hierold

doi:10.1021/nl052171d

Fabrication of single-walled carbon-nanotube-based pressure sensors

Nano Lett. 2006 Feb;6(2):233-7. doi: 10.1021/nl052171d.

Authors

C Stampfer¹, T Helbling, D Obergfell, B Schöberle, M K Tripp, A Jungen, S Roth, V M Bright, C Hierold

Affiliation

¹ Micro and Nanosystems, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland. christoph.stampfer@micro.mavt.ethz.ch

PMID: 16464041
DOI: 10.1021/nl052171d

Abstract

We report on the fabrication and characterization of bulk micromachined pressure sensors based on individual single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) as the active electromechanical transducer elements. The electromechanical sensor device consists of an individual electrically connected SWNT adsorbed on top of a 100-nm-thick atomic layer deposited (ALD) circular alumina (Al(2)O(3)) membrane with a radius in the range of 50-100 microm. A white light interferometer (WLI) was used to measure the deflection of the membrane due to differential pressure, and the mechanical properties of the device were characterized by bulge testing. Finally, we performed the first electromechanical measurements on strained metallic SWNTs adhering to a membrane and found a piezoresistive gauge factor of approximately 210 for metallic SWNTs.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Aluminum Oxide / chemistry
Electrodes
Light
Membranes, Artificial
Nanotubes, Carbon / chemistry*
Nanotubes, Carbon / radiation effects
Particle Size
Photochemistry
Pressure
Sensitivity and Specificity
Surface Properties

Substances

Membranes, Artificial
Nanotubes, Carbon
Aluminum Oxide