A fully-microfabricated SWCNT film strain sensor

Abstract

This paper presents a fully-microfabricated strain sensor made of a single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) film for force and weighing measurements. Key issues involve the deposition of SWCNT films with strong adhesion to the backing materials, the integration of SWCNT films into existing microtechnologies for batch fabrication, and the bonding of the strain sensors to a binocular spring element. The batch-fabricated SWCNT strain sensors showed a linear relationship between the resistance and the externally applied strain. The sensitivity of the SWCNT sensors was measured to be approximately 30 times higher than that of commercial foil-type strain gauges.