Ultrasensitive nanowire pressure sensor makes its debut

Abstract

A membrane pressure sensor with embedded piezoresistive silicon nanowires (NW) has been demonstrated to have an ultrasensitive piezoresistive response of (ΔR/R)/ΔP of 13 Pa-1. This was achieved through the effective tuning of the transverse electric field across the NW. The fabrication of the sensor is fully based on CMOS compatible technique. P-type (110) oriented NWs with a square cross-section of 100 nm were fabricated on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers, acting as the sensing elements. The NWs' exceptional properties and minute size will enable further shrinking of footprint of pressure sensors and other NEMS sensors with increased sensitivity, opening a way to new applications like implantable medical devices.