Piezoresistive behavior of amorphous carbon films for high performance MEMS force sensors

Ma, Xin; Guo, Peng; Tong, Xiaoshan; Zhao, Yulong; Ke, Peiling; Wang, Aiying

doi:10.1063/1.5096225

Cited by 17 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 22 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Some MEMS force sensors based on amorphous carbon (a-C) films with controlled piezoresistive behavior are presented in [152]. The sensors have been fabricated using DC magnetron sputtering technique.…”

Section: Syringe/infusion Pumpmentioning

confidence: 99%

MEMS Sensors for Diagnostics and Treatment in the Fight Against COVID-19 and Other Pandemics

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

As the world is going through an existential global health crisis, i.e., the outbreak of novel coronavirus-caused respiratory disease , the healthcare systems of all the countries require readily available, low cost and highly precise equipment for the rapid diagnostics, monitoring, and treatment of the disease. The performance and precision of this equipment are solely dependent on the sensors being used. The advancement in research and development of micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) based sensors during recent years, has resulted in the improvement of the conventional equipment being used in biomedical and health care applications. Microfluidics (Lab-on-a-chip) and MEMS sensors are now being used extensively for quick and accurate detection, progression monitoring, and treatment of various diseases including Covid-19. The ongoing miniaturization and design improvements have resulted in more precise sensors and actuators for healthcare applications, even for micro and nanoscale measurements in drug delivery and other invasive applications. This article aims at reviewing the MEMS sensors being used or which can be used in the important equipment for the detection and treatment of Covid-19 or other pandemics. An insight into various designs and working principles of the research-based and commercially available MEMS sensors is presented. The study highlights the role and importance of MEMS sensors in the improvement of equipment with conventional sensors. MEMS sensors outperform the conventional sensors due to their small size (1µm-1mm), negligible weight, prompt response, precise measurements, portability, and ease of integration with electronic circuitry.

show abstract

Section: Syringe/infusion Pumpmentioning

confidence: 99%

MEMS Sensors for Diagnostics and Treatment in the Fight Against COVID-19 and Other Pandemics

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The piezoresistive effect is a change in electrical resistivity when a material experiences mechanical strain 1 . This effect provides a direct energy/signal conversion from the mechanical to the electrical domain, which is widely used in microelectromechanical systems (MEMS)-based sensors, including pressure sensors 2 , accelerometers 3 , force sensors 4 , tactile sensors 5 , and flow sensors 6 . The sensitivity of a resistor to mechanical strain, called the gauge factor ( GF ), is usually defined as: 1 where Δ R / R 0 and Δ ρ / ρ 0 are the relative variations in the electrical resistance and electrical resistivity, respectively.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Carbon allotropes, including graphite 13 – 15 , carbon nanotubes (CNTs) 16 – 18 , amorphous carbon (a-C) 4 , 19 , graphene 20 , 21 , and nanofoams 7 , have already been studied as piezoresistive materials. The diverse mechanical and electrical properties of structural allotropes are due to the different sp, sp 2 , and sp 3 hybridized bonds, thus enabling a variety of sensor applications.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Zhao and Bai presented a graphite nanoplatelet/CNT hybrid nanocomposite in a polymer matrix to implement highly sensitive piezoresistors 18 . a-C thin films deposited by sputtering have been applied in MEMS force sensors, in which the GF can be tuned by the ratio of sp 2 /sp 3 varying the DC bias voltage during sputtering 4 , 19 . The GF of graphene has been evaluated by transferring it to a silicon nitride membrane and used as a pressure sensor 20 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

SU-8 cantilever with integrated pyrolyzed glass-like carbon piezoresistor

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Glass-like carbon (GC) is a nongraphitizing material composed entirely of carbon atoms produced from selected organic polymer resins by controlled pyrolysis in an inert atmosphere. The GC properties are a combination of the properties of glass, ceramic, and graphite, including hardness, low density, low thermal conductivity, high chemical inertness, biocompatibility, high electrical conductivity, and microfabrication process compatibility. Despite these unique properties, the application of GC in mechanical sensors has not been explored thus far. Here, we investigate the electrical, structural, and chemical properties of GC thin films derived from epoxy-based negative photoresist SU-8 pyrolyzed from 700 to 900 °C. In addition, we fabricated microGC piezoresistors pyrolyzed at 700 and 900 °C and integrated them into nonpyrolyzed SU-8 cantilevers to create microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) mechanical sensors. The sensitivities of the GC sensor to strain, force, surface stress, and acceleration are characterized to demonstrate their potential and limits for electromechanical microdevices.

show abstract

“…(7)(8)(9) The latter relies on the development of new materials and new MEMS processes to improve sensor sensitivity by replacing the traditional doped resistance with emerging materials such as polymer composite nanomaterials, graphene, and amorphous carbon films. (10,11) In contrast, because changing the sensitive structure does not depend on the development of new materials, it is more suitable for the development of high-performance accelerometers. (12) The incorporation of stress concentration slots into the sensitive structure was proved effective for enhancing the sensitivity of a sensor.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%